A loud, high-pitched jangle erupted beside Hatter's head, tearing him from a dead sleep and nearly sending him through the ceiling. He glared in shock at the offending piece of plastic on the night table by his head, and very nearly threw it to its doom against the wall.

It paused for a moment, then screamed at him again. Hatter grabbed at it, knocking it to the floor, but by that point, he was awake enough to realize what it was.

Hatter had never, in the six weeks he had been in this world, heard his phone make any sound at all. No one had his number, no one knew he was there, so no one had called. But someone was calling him now.

He scooped the phone up off the floor, and opened it.

"Hello?" His voice was still gravelly from sleep.

A woman's voice. "Hello, is this David?"

"Yeah, it is." He wished he could shake that early morning edge from his voice.

"My name is Carol. I understand you were the one who found my daughter Alice last night."

His heart started pounding so hard he was sure she would hear it through the phone. "Is she alright?"

"Yes, she's going to be okay. She woke up a few hours ago."

He breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "Good."

"Thank you," Carol said warmly, "for finding her."

"You're welcome." Was that what he was supposed to say? But he could almost hear Carol smiling on the other end of the line.

So he gathered a little courage. "Would it be okay," he asked tentatively, "if I stopped by to see her, make sure she's okay?"

"She's being released from the hospital this afternoon, David. But if you're free, why don't you stop by our place for coffee this evening. I'd like to thank you in person."

Hatter was almost bouncing on the bed in excitement, but he managed to contain himself to say a polite, "Thank you. I would like that very much."

In spite of years of learning to not let his emotions show, it was all he could do to keep the excitement out of his voice as he finished the conversation. Things had worked out exactly in his favor this time. Carol had invited him to come over, to see Alice. She had given him the address (although he already knew it from following Jack), and then they had exchanged polite goodbyes. Then Hatter had had thrown down the phone and started actually bouncing on the bed, laughing like an excited little kid.

Going back to sleep was definitely out of the question, in spite of only having slept four hours. It was still mid-morning though, and he would not be expected at Alice's home until evening. And right now, the evening felt like so far away.

He knew he needed to find something to occupy his time.

He decided that it was high time to check out his new home. Besides, he now had only two twenty dollar bills in paper money, and wouldn't be able to stay at the hotel any longer if he had wanted to. He really hoped he could live off of 40 dollars for another few days until Jack set up the plastic cards to have money on them.

He packed all of things, as best he could, although he ended up having to carry his hardhat and his fedoras in his hand. He went to the front desk, signed out and gave them the key. Then he went out the door and crossed the street to Jack's building. Although, really, it was no longer Jack's. It would now be Hatter's new home. He glanced back at the hotel, and turned another page in the book of his life.

New beginnings, he thought and a brilliant smile broke across his face. And he turned and unlocked the door and entered the building.

Jack's flat was three floors up, but when the doors to the elevator failed to immediately open, he instead decided to take the stairs.

He turned the key Jack had given him in the lock of the apartment door, and swung the door open.

The apartment was very spacious, with large windows, but had very plain white walls, wooden floors and had rather sparse and boring furnishings. There was a brown leather sofa and chair, a low hutch and a television in the living area, an immaculately clean kitchen that Hatter doubted Jack had ever used, and down a small hallway was a room with a large bed and a very large closet with mirrored doors. Another door led to a bath area and toilet. He could still see a few tell-tale signs of rummaging here and there, but the apartment had been put back into relatively good sorts since the White Rabbit's search.

It was boring and needed some personal touches, but Hatter was relieved to find that it was all neutral colors, with no sign of the gaudy red the Hearts liked to decorate everything with.

"This place could definitely use some plants," Hatter thought out loud. "Maybe a patch of grass." But then he reconsidered the lawn. People here didn't use grass for carpeting. Plus it might ruin the wood.

He took his pack to the mirrored closet, and threw open the doors.

The closet was very full of clothes. And expensive ones at that. Suits of almost every color you could imagine, soft cotton shirts, vests, and an entire row of trousers.

"And I thought I horded clothing," Hatter laughed to himself. Of course, none of Jack's clothes would fit him, and at first he wasn't sure what he would do with them, but he needed the closet room for himself. Right now he only had seven or eight outfits, but once the plastic cards worked...

Then again, he thought, Jack's clothes may come in handy.

A couple of hours later, Hatter left the consignment store with a much fatter wallet and much more closet space. Jack's suits had indeed been expensive, and the clerk had wondered how Hatter had gotten them, especially since they were all the wrong size to be his (that and he didn't look the type). He made up some excuse about them having been his businessman brother's, but his brother had to go back to England in a rush, and had left him to sell off his belongings. And the clerk had nodded and rang through the transaction.

Sometimes, Hatter thought, the accent was definitely convenient.

Another shop caught his eye on the way back to the flat. Well, it wasn't so much the shop that caught his attention, but rather the assortment of miniature trees in the front window. They looked very much like full sized trees, with bark and leaves and such, but they were only a few inches tall.

Hatter looked at the tiny trees, amused and intrigued by them instantly. They didn't have tiny trees like this in Wonderland, but somehow it still felt Wonderland-ish. A piece of home. In the end he left the shop with three little bonsais in a box, and a book on how to look after them.

In the end, the day didn't drag nearly as much as Hatter had worried that it would. There had definitely been moments where it did seem that time was standing still and insolently mocking Hatter. But once he had gotten busy making himself at home, time had passed a little more swiftly.

Now, in the final hours of the afternoon, he was faced with an entirely new dilemma. What would he wear?

He had tried on several outfits, and none had seemed to work. His first outfit had been so outlandish that he was sure that Carol would immediately slam the door in his face and deny him the chance to ever see Alice again. The second outfit was a far cry from the first, but still more than a little eclectic.

Had it just been Alice he had been going to see (which would be nerve wracking enough), he may have considered looking Wonderland-ish. But he was going to see Alice... and Alice's mother! And the need to make a good impression had shaken him into a petrified perfectionism that was not usually his style.

Clothes were now scattered all over the bedroom, and he was standing there dressed only in a pair of dark, loose fitting jeans, and he was at a loss as to what to pair them with.

Time ticked away, now seeming to speed up. It was definitely mocking him.

With a loud yell of frustration, Hatter finally threw on a white t-shirt and opted for a brown canvas jacket to go over it. He inspected his reflection in the mirrored doors, and decided that it was the best he had come up with yet.

"Now to tackle you, my friend," he said out loud, playing all ten of his fingers in his chaotic mop.

Trying to tame a head of hair such as his was no easy task. He would no sooner have one side of his hair laying flat, then the other side would start to curl skywards again. He spent a great deal of time fighting with it and cursing, but finally it gave in and lay down in a relatively organized fashion, and he pulled his black fedora down on top of it with a grunt.

…

He had been rooted to the same spot for nearly a half hour. Half a block away from Alice's building, just staring up at it and trying to breathe normally. Every fear he had nursed or ignored since the day Alice had disappeared into the looking glass, so many weeks ago, started to swarm him all at once. Would she want him? Would she be happy to see him?

And since last night, a new fear had added to the tally. Would she even remember him?

Tessa had been confused. Her memories had felt more like a strangely vivid dream then an actual memory. It wasn't until she had seen that hat that she had become sure.

And Hatter was not wearing THAT hat. What if Alice thought it was all a dream? Would she recognize him in the normal clothes? Would she recognize him without his lucky hat? Why hadn't he worn that hat?

He was so close. This is what he had been waiting for. And now worry was making him wait again... when he could see exactly where he wanted to be.

He punched himself in the leg, a little harder then he had intended, and his leg protested throbbingly at him. "Just go get her, Hatter!" he practically shouted at himself. Several passers-by paused, then made a wide arc around him as they kept going.

"Get it together, get in there," he continued to pep-talk himself.

And finally his feet came unglued from the sidewalk and he quickly closed the distance to Alice's building and made his way up the stairs to the door of her apartment.

His finger hesitated slightly on the door bell button, and he whispered, "Please let her be happy to see me," to the walls. Then he forcefully pushed the button and stood there, hat in fidgeting hands, trying to occupy them in a desperate attempt to keep from running his hands through his hair.

He didn't have to wait long. An athletic middle aged woman in a green dress opened the door, with a warm smile.

"Come in, you must be David."

"Yes ma'am," he said with a polite smile, and shook her hand.

"Call me Carol," she insisted, and ushered him into the front room, before walking a few steps to call down the hallway.

"Alice! Come meet David!"

He heard slow, quiet footfalls coming up the hallway, and then there she was. He caught himself checking her out all over again. She was wearing a black and gray sweater over a burgandy shirt and some very shapely jeans, that hugged her curves almost as much as that very wet blue dress she had been wearing the first day he met her.

She looked sad, though. She was staring at her fingers and twisting them around, and seemed reluctant to be there at the moment. Hatter felt his heart hitch in his chest watching her.

But she finally looked up, and Hatter saw her jaw drop slightly in amazement. Then her whole face lit up with a smile as she cried out, "Hatter!" His name had never, ever sounded better to him.

Then she was running at him, and throwing herself, with all the force in her body, into his arms and flinging her arms around his neck, gasping a little.

He wrapped his arms tightly around her, feeling the solidity of her form against his. It wasn't a dream. It was real. Alice was really in his arms.

The last shreds of his fear disappeared. The loneliness and worry, the strain of having to watch her with Jack, the frustration, the six weeks spent living in the past – in that moment, all of it was melted away by the warmth of the woman in his arms.

Feeling overwhelmed, but in the best way imaginable, he breathed it all out into a single word. "Finally!"

There you have it. Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'm contemplating a sequel... we'll see. Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers! You made this an exceptionally fun experience. Please let me know what you think of the story as a whole (Please review).

Cheers!

Raeni