Author's Notes: Thank you to everyone, especially those of you who have reviewed, favorited or alerted. You're wonderful! This is the final chapter of Some Sort of Fairy Tale. I know! I know! How evil am I? There are some notes at the bottom to clear some things up if you're interested. Thanks again!

Chapter 4: Hope Tomorrow Never Comes

Hatter sighs. He isn't particularly sleepy. In fact, he's as far from sleep as he can possibly get without being high out of his mind. Alice is breathing softly next to him, her fingers curled around his, the warmth setting every hair in his body on end. He doesn't know what they've accomplished, him and Alice, but there seems to be some sort of truce and it's better then her hating him. In fact, he can begrudgingly admit that he, a man famous for forming as little attachment as possible, is content.

He sighs again.

"For God's sake Hatter!" Alice is glaring at him from behind the curtain of her dark hair and it's not something he likes being on the receiving end of.

"Sorry!" He squeaks.

"What? What is it?"

"You're grumpy when you're sleepy." It's an observation really, not an accusation and the glare intensifies. He shrinks back a little.

"We had a deal. You'd let me sleep and in return, I wouldn't do you any bodily harm."

Alice props herself up on her free arm and stares at him. It's hard to get a good look at him in the dim light, but from what she can see, he's looking much better. The color is back in his skin and his breathing is even and nothing like the labored panting she'd witness before. Why then, did he keep sighing?

He's doing that nervous thing with his hand, fiddling with the bed sheet like he did with his hat and the edge of his shirt. She's groggy and heavy and all she wants is for him to go to sleep. She just needs to get past those first few minutes, let her mind and her senses shut down so she can fall into that wonderful deep sleep waiting just behind her eyelids.

"You aren't afraid of the dark are you?"

"Really Alice?" She can hear the smirk in his voice.

He looks at her, the smile growing. She follows his path in an attempt to see what he's seeing.

"Are you wearing my shirt?"

She ducks her head, pretending to look at the item of clothing in question.

He doesn't need her to answer the question. His heart flips in his chest, climbs into his throat and makes him smile like a fool.

"Unlike you, some people actually wear clothes to bed."

"Shame, that is." He pretends not to look at her and Alice hasn't blushed this much since high school. She has a feeling that this is a normal occurrence with him. She can't imagine him not flirting, not being his deceptively charming self for even a minute. She's not sure that he's aware he does it, just second nature really and she has to admit that she likes it. His comment isn't followed by a leer or a grope, or ogling. Instead, he's got the warm sexy smile he always gives her and she smiles in return because this is her Hatter, the one she met in the Tea Shoppe. The same man who'd made a seemingly lewd, but surprisingly honest, comment about her wet clothing and his inappropriate reasoning for helping her.

Her eyes trail down to her hand on his chest and the way he's holding her, ever so gently and she doesn't, for once, feel any fear for the strength she knows lives in that hand. Doesn't fear the way he looks at her, or smiles at her. Even sleeping in the woods, Alice wasn't afraid to lay down next to him, wasn't afraid of him at all. And this means something monumental because Alice doesn't do this either. Doesn't get into bed with a man she's known less than a week. Doesn't dress up in his clothes and wrap herself in his scent and dream about wrapping her arms around his waist and kissing him like she wanted to in the forest. And she doesn't hold hands and make doe eyes and flirt at God knows what hour in the morning.

Except she does and she is and she isn't scared.

"I lied." He begins. He knows before the words are even out of his mouth that this can go badly, whether for her or him, he isn't sure. But he feels like he needs to do this tonight and it's all because of that stupid rabbit and his speech about change and honesty and time and all that nonsense. He was right, but that's neither here nor there. He looks to Alice and she raises her eyebrow, his cue to continue. "When I told you why they call me Hatter. It's my name, you know. My family name." He flicks his wrist unconsciously. "Mad lot, we are. Curse of being who we are. I didn't really think through the whole rescue plan. Not past the sword and the horse anyway." Alice snorts but doesn't otherwise interrupt. "When they caught me, I figured they'd lock me up somewhere and I'd use my questionable skills to escape."

"But they didn't."

Hatter shakes his head, a chill running down his spine.

"Met those chubby blokes again, those Doctors. Weren't too happy about me having helped you escape." He smiles a little but there's nothing like humor in it. "They didn't know who I was at first. Not til they started poking around in there. Thing about us Hatters is, there's stuff in our heads we're not supposed to share, under penalty of madness. Not a pleasant feeling, going crazy." He squeezes her hand, his eyes glassy and she knows he's back there with them. "Fear doesn't begin to describe what I felt. I could feel each trap springing, could feel them getting lose and I didn't know what to do. When I was young, I was taught to spin the magic, wrap it around the entry points and when someone gets past them, the alarms go off. And if you don't get to them fast enough, well," He pauses and when he starts again, his voice is bordering on hysterical. "Then down the rabbit hole you go, Alice. And there's no one who can bring you back. Not even yourself. I was there, almost gone and I don't ever want to be there again. When I told you I was fine, I wasn't lying to you. What's a few bloody holes in your stomach compared to insanity?"

They're both silent and he takes it as a good sign when she doesn't pull away from him, only holds his hand tighter. Feels even better when she moves closer to him, until she's against his side and her nose grazes the side of his neck.

"I'm sorry." She whispers against his neck. Hatter has to close his eyes or he'll do something stupid like kiss her. Instead he squeezes her hand and pulls the comforter up, making sure to cover her shoulders. He pulls his head back, just a little, but he can't see her face. He doesn't know what comes over him, what gives him the courage as he plants a soft kiss on her forehead before he hits a switch just above his head and the room falls into darkness.

"Goodnight Alice."

"Goodnight Hatter."

When he closes his eyes, he knows this won't be the last time. Knows she'll be there when he wakes up, still lying next to him when the sun starts to come. He won't pretend to know what tomorrow will bring. Can't even imagine where they're supposed to go from here but even if this all goes to hell, he can at least say that this time, he took the chance.

He tries to figure it out; this isn't him, isn't the type of person he is, but it doesn't matter. Hatter feels his heart swell, feels the hope rising in the pit of his stomach and for once, he's thankful for the stupid rabbit that lives in his head.

Author's Final Notes: I've got to admit, I was extremely apprehensive to post this final chapter. The reviews have been absolutely awesome but also let me know the different directions in which people anticipated this story to go. I never intended to address the final scene in the Looking Glass room – it's been done to death. I also don't think that, had my fic actually taken place,that much would have changed. Hatter wouldn't have gone and Alice wouldn't have stayed and knowing what happened the night before between them could possibly account for why it was so awkward.

In regards to the tattoos, I didn't intend to really delve too much into them, at least not in this particular fic. I hinted at them, and gave a basic explanation, but I'm going to further explore that tidbit in an upcoming fic. Not sure if it will be a sequel or a standalone, but it will happen.

Thanks for reading. You're all very pretty