Disclaimers: Copyright 2010 jackiekennedy. Glee copyright Ryan Murphy. Alice in Wonderland copyright Lewis Carroll.

I warn you that this story is extraordinarily AU in every sense of the phrase.

It contains heavy references to "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass", and though there's no need to read the books to understand this story, if you are ever confused, I am always willing to clarify. It is simply just the result of the building nonsense in the author's brain, and she couldn't hold it in without typing it into a story. Please note, I had to combine Alice's Adventures and the Looking-Glass in order to make characters and plot flow smoothly. Hopefully no one is too outraged.

Please, please, please review! Since this is such a hugely plot-based story, I want to hear as much criticism, comments, and requests you can come up with. Anything from character development to potential romances to plot predication to speed of the story etc, etc. I would really appreciate a review so I can make this story as best as it can be!

Thanks so much in advance. I'll try and update regularly every week or every two weeks.

Lastly, huge thanks to emilyforprez who agreed to beta this! Now, enjoy the story!

All in the Golden Afternoon
"Alice! A childish story take,
And, with a gentle hand,
Lay it where Childhood's dreams are twined
In Memory's mystic band.
Like pilgrim's wither'd wreath of flowers
Pluck'd in a far-off land."

The yellow sun splashed lazily across the cerulean sky with each ray tickling the ends of the earth. A gathering of birds zoomed through the air, zipping past rows and rows of poised daises and sunflowers. Rare gusts of wind danced through the humid clouds along with the gentle buzz of the fervent bees. Blades of sharp grass shot out from the damp soil, enveloping the ground into a majestic lime avenue. It was a picturesque view of the beauty of suburban America, and one particular girl found herself not caring one bit.

Quinn Fabray sighed sorely, grabbing the box labeled "Kitchen Utensils" from the car and holding it steady on her right knee. With a deep breath, she hoisted it higher and wrapped her arms tightly around the cardboard edges, fumbling across the lawn as she quickened her pace towards the kitchen.

With a soft clang, she set the box down among its identical twins, cluttering the middle of the brightly lit kitchen. Placing a free hand on her hip, Quinn glanced towards the sink and slightly squinted her eyes at the source of the light. She maneuvered unconsciously past the mess and headed towards the dark eyelet curtains, pushing it behind the glass to allow more sunshine into the room. Peeking through the windows, she smiled absently as a few bluebirds traced the sky. Their wings glittered in the sun as they played amongst the bees and the flowers. Quinn rested her chin on the bend of her wrist, loose tendrils of blonde hair falling around frame of her face. Her pink lips quirked into a smile as she tucked the strands behind her ears, her soft green eyes still placed on the vibrant setting taking place outside the kitchen.

Maybe she found herself caring just a little bit.

"Quinn! Where are you? We still have more boxes!"

With an obvious frown, Quinn reluctantly turned herself away from the elegant bluebirds and forced herself out the kitchen and back towards the entrance door. As she strolled through the grassy front yard, Quinn watched her family surround the moving truck, her mother fanning herself with a folded insurance pamphlet and her father reaching inside the car to grab another box. Her sister loitered nearby, one hand occupied with a cellphone as a cardboard box entitled "Pillows" lay by her feet. Quinn rolled her eyes and made her way to the truck to join the rest of the crowded group.

"Quinny, grab this, will you?" Her father prodded and handed her the box he had just grabbed. Quinn shifted in her shoes as she adjusted to the sudden amount of weight being held in her arms. Glancing at the side, she read her mother's careful cursive handwriting: "Russell's Books."

With a drastic roll of the eyes, Quinn obliged as she marched back into the house, dropping the box (less gingerly this time) in the midst of their newly polished living room. Feeling her back heating up, she took off her white cardigan and pinched the cotton fabric of her floral red dress. She shook it impetuously, forcing an artificial breeze down her back as she wandered thoughtlessly around the room.

If she knew Lima, Ohio would be this hot during the summer, Quinn would have added it on her list of Why This Town Sucks Ass.

It would have been #127.

But as she glanced back out the window to spy on her family, she knew that every valid argument she could pose would be unfairly declined.

Draping her sweater over one of the boxes, Quinn stretched out her arms and let out a dramatic yawn, plopping down on one of the still plastic-wrapped arm chairs. It made an awkward crunching sound, but Quinn sank in deeper, closing her eyes in defense of the scorching weather. She knew it wasn't her father's fault that his job relocated him in the middle of an unknown cow town, but it was his fault that he forced Quinn to come along with them. She was already seventeen, and to take a seventeen year old girl out of her senior year in high school was beyond cruel. Quinn had worked hard to maintain a respectable social standing back at her old school, and the thought of rebuilding that in a place where there was a Dairy Queen around every corner was far from what Quinn had in mind.

"Quinn, what are you doing up there? We still need your help out here!" Frannie's voice rang loudly from outside.

With a larger animosity than before, Quinn pushed herself irritably off of the sticky plastic chair. Marching vehemently towards the garage, she reasoned that there was nothing more annoying than the sound of her sister's shrill voice. On event of learning of their family's move to Lima, Frannie did everything she could to practically rub it into little Quinny's face that she was still going to be living in the luxury of Ivy League college while the runt of the Fabray family was stuck in stinky Ohio. (Not like New Hampshire was anything better, but Quinn couldn't make fun of her sister too intensely since Frannie was attending Dartmouth.)

Returning to the front yard, Quinn swiftly jumped out of the stone pathway as a few broad-shouldered men carried disassembled parts of tables and beds through the slim doorway. Her blonde curls bounced behind her as she took the grassy route, the skirt of her dress flying at her knees.

"You better be wearing shorts underneath," Frannie quipped, raising an eyebrow judgmentally at her sister's legs.

"One more box, sweetheart," their father interrupted, handing Quinn the cardboard. He had increased his use of adoring pet names lately, hopeful to redeem the grace of his youngest daughter's good side. Although, it was naturally hard for Quinn to hold such a heavy grudge against her father because, by simple default, Quinn was too much of a daddy's girl. With a tiny smile, Quinn grabbed the box and was surprised by it's easy weight.

"What - "

"Open it," her father smiled.

Quinn raised a curious brow as she placed the box on the ground and kneeled down next to it. She gently tore off the top flaps as she looked down at the contents, and her eyes suddenly widened with shock.

"I thought you would need a new dress for this Sunday's mass. It's important for the Fabrays to make a good and memorable first impression, don't you think?"

Quinn pinched the light blue material, and she held it against her body as she stood up. "It's beautiful," she smiled instantly, and she gave her parents a tight hug. "I'm going to try it on." And with that, Quinn darted from the front yard and back into the house for what seemed like the billionth time today.

Running quickly up the staircase, she rushed into her newly acclaimed room, the pretty blue dress floating from her hands. However, the moment Quinn shut the door behind her, a heartbroken frown furrowed her face.

It was just like her parents to buy her forgiveness.

She was so unbelievably sick of the lack of genuineness of the Fabray family.

It wasn't that they were bad people, no. Far from it. They were just extremely difficult when it came to being honest or, as cliché as it sounded, 'true to the heart.'

The Fabrays were, in the general sense, logical people. They did whatever seemed morally right: attend church on Sundays, send their children to good schools, donate money to the less fortunate, etc, etc. They were Bible followers, as Quinn liked to think. Not that there was anything justly wrong with that. It just felt so fake at times, and the moments where Quinn was supposed to feel merciful always ended up feeling phony.

And whenever someone made a mistake in the Fabray household, the answer was almost ridiculous: purchase an "I'm sorry" gift.

When Frannie accidentally broke her Furbie, she bought her two new ones.

When Mom forgot to take her to the Daisy Parade, she bought her a gold cross necklace.

When Dad had to miss her national cheer competition, he bought her a new car.

While she would never admit it out loud, the inevitable truth was Quinn was starting to loathe it.

Tossing the dress onto her freshly assembled bed, Quinn dropped down next to it. With a tiny sigh, her long eyelashes fluttered drowsily for several moments before she allowed herself to fully open her eyes again. She glanced over at her dress's light blue straps and white lace, and even in her immense detest, she couldn't help but admit how gorgeous it looked. With feigned reluctance, she pulled off her current dress and slipped the new one delicately over her head. It molded to her body almost perfectly, falling securely just above her knees. Folding out the building creases, Quinn walked towards her mirror and admired the attractiveness of her petite frame. But just as she was about to fix her hair, her green eyes darted to the edge of the mirror as something extremely peculiar caught the corner of her eye.

Turning around, Quinn ran towards the window on the opposite end of her room, almost certain that she was seeing things. But her lips slightly quivered and her eyes almost bulged out of their sockets as she was confronted with what seemed like the apparent truth. Quinn stood there for several shocking seconds, dumbstruck by the quizzical scene, before anxiously running down the staircase. Her footsteps became noticeably louder than her thoughts as she pushed open the door, gazing wildly at the front yard.

There, in the middle of her garden, Quinn saw a boy in a wheelchair rolling by frantically, chanting "Oh dear! Oh dear! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!"