A Cheshire Named Kat
A Tea Called Alice
Chapter 4
A Cheshire Named Kat
"Well then which way would you suggest?" Jack asked impatiently.
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to..."
Rated M
I'm still not sure what I stand for
What do I stand for?
What do I stand for?
Most nights I don't know anymore
Alice and Hatter said their goodbyes to Charlie and Jack led them to the horses. The two men hurriedly untied the reigns and mounted their steeds. The Prince of Hearts presumptuously lowered a hand in offering to help Alice up, only to find she was turned toward Hatter, patiently waiting for him to make the same offer.
Hatter looked down to see her staring expectantly, then glanced to Jack and back down to Alice again. With a polite smile, he extended his hand and effortlessly lifted Alice onto the horse behind him. All the while, he fought to keep the smug grin off his face.
This time, Alice's arms almost automatically came around to hold on to him. His blood sang with comfortable familiarity. One of her hands was snaked under his jacket and he felt the warmth of it through the thinner fabric of his shirt. Hatter was anxious as hell that she could feel his rapid heartbeat buzzing out of control like a Passion Tea junkie.
He was still raw about being enlisted to join in on Jack's personal vendetta against his mother. However, he found that it was hard to stay angry at Alice. It seemed her presence alone could soften his temper and turn his thoughts to crafty ways just to get near knew letting another have such power over him should have scared him. He was breaking his rules for her. Dropping his guard. All those things he swore he'd never do, all the precautions to keep himself safe, were tossed to the wind the moment Alice called. He was changing. And that should have terrified him. But he trusted Alice, even if she couldn't return that confidence.
Alice rested her head against his back, her forehead soothed by cool leather. She let out a sigh and inadvertently breathed in the scent of Hatter. The force of it rattled her. She had to lean away for fear of burying her face into his clothes, rubbing her cheek over the leather and claiming him in some primal way. In her world, the theory that smell was one of mankind's strongest and most memorable senses was often associated with identifying amorous partners. Scent had an incredible impact on the body and mind. The tremendous force of emotions flooding through her system gave her pause. Along with other things, it stirred in her a sense of panic as to how fast her feelings for the Wonderlander were evolving.
Hatter smelled like Masala Chai. Spicy cardamom and cinnamon mellowed by smooth vanilla and just a hint of sweetness. Alice's friend Hanna, who had a penchant for world cultures and natural remedies, maintained that chai came about when the British sent higher quality tea back to the mother country and left India with the "lower" tea. To cut the raw bitterness, they added spices, milk, and sugar. The scent fit Hatter. He was a lonely tea leaf thrown into a bitter world, steeped with the right sugar and spice to make just the cup of tea she wanted to drink. And with that thought, Alice knew just how hard she had fallen. She sucked in a steadying breath, trying to calm her confusion over this startlingly raw attraction. She was sympathizing with him now. Understanding him, appreciating him, and it was all too evident to her that she was falling heart first with no hope of rational thought. His smell had coaxed so much from her, her body reacting before her mind could catch up. Suddenly, her innocent hold on his waist had lost its naivety. But she still couldn't bring herself to pull away.
At the first fork in the forest path, Jack steered them to the right and Hatter stopped their horse abruptly, snapping Alice out of her reverie.
"Not that way," Hatter told the Prince bluntly.
Jack tugged on the reins and turned to face Hatter. "This is the fastest route to the city," he explained.
"Oh, sure," Hatter agreed. "If you think that mare of yours can outrun a borogrove stampede."
"Well then which way would you suggest?" Jack asked impatiently.
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," called a voice eerily familiar to Hatter.
The three travelers looked above to see a woman, perched comfortably in a tree, grinning down at them. She was dressed strangely and scantily. A garter belt worn on the outside of her shorts held up frilly black and white garters with no stockings. Completely unnecessary pink and purple striped suspenders stretched over a lacy black bustier. The edges of her short dark hair were curled up on either side of her head to resemble the ears of a cat.
"Kat..." Hatter muttered warily under his breath. An ill-timed voice from the past.
"Who are you?" Alice called up to the woman.
"You know me very well, Alice," Kat replied with a twisted smirk. "I've had my eyes on you for a long time."
The memory sparked in her mind. Alice had seen that maniacal grin before, on the face of her childhood cat Dinah in the dream she had waiting for Mad March to capture her. "It was you," she realized. "You gave me that vision."
"Oh, I wouldn't doubt that it was me," Kat purred sensually. Her luminous green eyes sparkled. "But my dreams are usually of the naughty variety."
"Begone, Cheshire," Jack ordered dismissively. "You have no place here."
The visage of Kat slowly faded from the tree, one piece of her at a time, to reappear standing before the Prince of Wonderland. The musical jingle of the bell around her neck signaled her reemergence.
"Duplicity is an old Hat trick, but a new one for the Jack of Hearts," the Cheshire observed slyly. "Does Mommy know you're traipsing around Tulgey Wood with the Alice?"
"I am not one of my mother's cards," Jack snapped angrily.
"The game is new, Jack. You don't choose how we play," Kat insisted. "You're the highest card in the deck."
"We don't have time for your riddles," Jack replied, straightening his shoulders regally to assert his dominance. "We are due in the city."
"Don't tell her where we're going," Hatter complained. Snatching Alice's father from the Casino and meeting with Caterpillar would be dangerous enough. The last thing they needed was a meddling Cheshire.
"She already knows," the Prince reasoned. "Or she wouldn't have stopped us in the first place."
"A caucus-race would suit you better. If the pace matters. Or it might not, in which case, who cares?" Kat muttered dryly.
"Let us pass," Jack ordered. The command had Alice confused, as it didn't seem Kat was hindering them in any particular way, except to engage them in conversation.
"I'm insulted, Jack," the Cheshire pouted, diligently inspecting her long, sharp nails. "You went all the way through the Looking Glass recruiting and you didn't even think of asking me."
"You want to join the fight?" Alice wondered aloud. The woman didn't seem to be threatening them, after all. And she seemed to have a history with Jack, who claimed to be an 'insider' for the Resistance.
"The fight?" Kat laughed and it was a deep, bellowing sound. "The fall of the Queen would please no one greater. I see before me a kick-ass judo girl, a half-blooded Resistance spy and the Prince of Hearts on their way to meet a Caterpillar. What you have brewing, my sweet Alice, is a revolution."
"You've been to my world," Alice stated. There was no other way Kat would know she practiced martial arts.
"The Cheshire are the only creatures who can travel between worlds without the Looking Glass," Jack explained.
"Were the only ones," Kat corrected bitterly. "But your mommy hates competition. Now there is only one."
"So there's another way home," Alice guessed. Perhaps the ring wasn't as crucial as they first thought.
"Not for you," Kat replied loftily.
"What do you want with us?" Hatter asked bluntly. The Cheshire were troublemakers. He knew Kat would have them talking in circles for eternity unless they got straight to the point.
Kat disappeared with another chime of her little bell, only to suddenly materialize hanging upside-down in the air directly in front of Hatter. "March is out there, wild card," the Cheshire told him, her glowing emerald gaze piercing right through him. "And you have a target on your back the size of a Tea party."
"So help us," Alice suggested.
"I like her," Kat told Hatter with a double-wide inverted grin. "Feisty little Oyster. Couldn't resist helping the poor little thing if you tried." She reached out to touch his face affectionately. "So much like him. My champion of humanity."
Hatter jerked away from the contact, frowning and fixing Kat with a hard stare. He didn't like hearing her talk of him and he liked even less being touched. The Cheshire's grin faded and she regarded him sadly.
"Enough," Jack bellowed.
The sudden shout seemed to snap Kat out of her trance. She appeared back in her original spot in the tree before them.
"Take the old road on the border of the White kingdom," the Cheshire instructed lightly. "The trees will protect you, at my command. They will shield your trail from Mad March and the Suits."
"How are trees going to protect us?" Alice wondered.
"Alice," Kat said her name as though it were the punchline to the most hilarious joke. The Cheshire's body faded limb by limb until only her sharp-toothed smile remained, the woods echoing with her resounding laughter.
The tedious ride through the forest grew silent again after the Cheshire's departure. Every so often, Alice thought she heard the distant tinkling of a little bell. But it may have just been the wind. She was left alone with her thoughts and the distracting scent of Hatter until they reached a clearing of trees and Jack stopped his horse ahead of them.
"We won't make it by nightfall," Jack concluded. "We should stop here for the night and rest."
He left Alice and Hatter to make camp while he scouted ahead. He seemed more blunt than usual. Alice assumed he didn't like the idea of Hatter joining them any more than Hatter himself.
She and Hatter wandered carefully through the brush, always in sight of their horse in the clearing, gathering dry branches and sticks for firewood.
"My Mum was the Oyster," Hatter blurted out without prompting. "Never met her but the story goes that my father took a liking to her and snuck her out the Casino. She was taken in by the Resistance after that."
He was quiet for a moment. He hadn't shared this information before. Not with anyone. And he wasn't sure why he felt Alice deserved an explanation. Except that maybe if she knew his story it would be the missing link that would finally allow her to trust him. Knowledge was powerful, as he'd told her in the Library, and he didn't want a lack of understanding to come between them anymore.
"What happened?" Alice asked softly. She could only assume it was a sad story, since Hatter had all but dismissed her question regarding his family earlier. She didn't want to push him but Alice was very genuinely interested to hear about his background. Interested in him, really.
"She, um..." he hesitated, careful to keep his tone level. He almost wished he hadn't even mentioned it, but it was too late now. "The Suits found her when we were trying to escape the city. She was killed. I was just little, I don't... really remember..."
He trailed off, turning away from her and adding a few dry twigs to the bundle in his arms. Alice dropped her pile to the ground and cautiously walked over to him. She didn't know what to say, so she simply moved closer, prepared to offer what comfort she could.
"I never really got 'round to asking how I got here," Hatter continued thoughtfully. "Figured, maybe they went to the Carpenter behind the Queen's back. All I knew is I was one half and nothing of both worlds and didn't belong to anyone. Only place left for me was the seedy underbelly."
"Hatter," Alice whispered, voice heavy with empathy. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be," he answered with a sad smile. "'Least I know where I came from. That's more than some of the others've got."
"We've got to stop this," Alice resolved, her face holding the same rigid determination as her voice. "For their sake."
Alice's first priority had to be her father. She had needed him for so long… he was family and that had to come first. But the more she learned about the Casino, the more she knew she wanted to be a part of the solution. She had to believe that somehow her rag-tag crew of rebels could really pull off the revolution Wonderland so desperately needed.
"We?" Hatter asked hopefully, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. 'We' had sounded scary the first time he'd said it. Bitter when she threw it back in his face over the fire at Charlie's fortress. But now, 'we' sounded good.
Alice nodded slightly. She averted her eyes but Hatter noticed the ghost of a smile and a touch of pink painting her cheeks. Her hand found his and gave it a reassuring squeeze. An unfamiliar custom, but he recognized the intent. He felt her fingers slip from his grasp and he stared at the empty limb, immediately missing her touch. Lot of touching involved between Oysters, it would seem. He'd not mind more touching when it came to Alice. Like that kissing business, he'd love to have a go at that again.
Hatter cleared his throat anxiously, trying to halt the thoughts running rampant in his head. "You hungry?" he asked brightly, changing the subject from such dark matters.
"Famished," Alice answered truthfully.
He nodded in agreement, "We should drop off the kindling and start digging for apples."
Alice blinked and shook her head doubtfully. "Apples grow on trees," she amended calmly.
Hatter chuckled at his silly Oyster, "Sure they do."
When Jack returned to their camp he provided them with some food beyond the apples they had indeed harvested, much to Alice's surprise, from the ground. While her meal with Charlie and Hatter had passed in companionable silence, the quiet over this campfire was excruciatingly tense. Alice and Hatter finished their meals quickly, all too anxious to move past the strained, endless stillness.
Jack picked at his meal meagerly and where she might not have thought anything of it before, tonight it annoyed her. Alice hadn't had a chance to really consider his status until then. What she had viewed as polite manners now seemed bordering on pompous. She tried to shake the thought away, knowing that it wasn't fair. But it only made the warm comfort she associated with Hatter and Charlie all the more vivid.
Alice could've spend this quiet time thinking about many things: meeting a Cheshire for the first time, how Kat came to know both her companions, what she was going to say to her father when they found him, her rapidly growing feelings for Hatter... She might have wanted to think about anything else. But she was presented with the perfect opportunity to grill the Prince on another matter that continued to bother her. Right now, Jack was a captive audience. There was nowhere for him to run.
"So who's the Duchess?" Alice asked plainly, holding Jack's gaze steadily over the fire.
"My mother's creature," Jack answered quickly. "An arrangement. I have no feelings for her nor she for me." He glanced sideways at Hatter and added, "Do you really want to talk about this now?"
Hatter scoffed, "Don't let me spoil your lover's reunion." He rose to his feet and walked away from the fire to tend to the horses.
"Hatter," Alice called apologetically.
"Let him go," Jack muttered.
"Why are you so cruel to him?" she scolded sourly.
"Cruel?" Jack ranted, affronted. "At your request I allowed him to travel with us despite Caterpillar's explicit instructions to bring you alone. There is a great deal at stake here, Alice."
"Right," she conceded grimly. "The revolution."
"The future of my people," Jack clarified. "And yours. In addition to finally finding your father, you have the power to free the humans trapped in the Casino and send them home for good. Don't you want that?"
"Of course I do," Alice argued. "And so does Hatter. He can help you, if you let him."
"What you don't know will hurt him," the Prince warned, his voice and eyes gravely serious. "Your friend has many enemies on both sides of this conflict. He would have been safer hiding in the woods with the knight."
"Are you afraid for his safety," Alice questioned skeptically. "Or the threat he poses to your mission?"
"I worry about you," he persuaded gently. "My heart belongs to you, Alice. Completely. You believe that, don't you?"
Alice sighed and stayed silent for a long moment, watching the flames flicker gently before her. How could she still believe that? She wasn't even really sure what love meant in Wonderland. Was Jack really his parents' biological son? Did he even have a concept of romance before coming to her world? There were too many questions unanswered.
She knew it wasn't entirely fair for her to judge Jack without hearing his side of the story. But Alice couldn't shake the suspicious feeling that crept up the moment she saw him again in the Queen's throne room. Everything he had told her up until that point was a lie. While she might find it in her heart to forgive the Prince in light of the selfless cause he was pursuing, they could never go back to what they were.
"I can't ask you to worry about me, Jack," Alice said quietly. "You have a duty to your people and I respect that."
The Prince stared into the rising smoke between them wistfully. "I will always honor my loyalty to the people of this land and I will deliver them from my mother's tyranny," Jack told her profoundly. "Just as I will always do everything in my power to protect you. You mean a great deal to me, Alice."
"I gave you the ring because I do believe in the cause. I will do what I can to help but I will never leave my friends behind. Hatter means a great deal to me, too," Alice resolved quickly. The words were out of her mouth before she could think of the implications.
When the implications did reach her mind, she decided it was best to make her exit. She rose up quickly and walked away from the fire, only to run smack into Hatter who had returned from watering the horses.
"Whoa there," Hatter chided gently. "You okay?"
Alice nodded, keeping her head low and hoping the shadows were dark enough to obscure the rather obvious blush she knew was covering her face. "Sorry," she mumbled. "I'm fine."
"Did he say something to ya?" Hatter griped, narrowing his eyes at the Prince across the clearing.
"No," she replied quickly. "We were just catching up."
Hatter nodded glumly, fairly sure that meant she had reconciled with Jack. He could easily picture the Prince weaving together some convoluted story that Alice ate up like candy for breakfast. He still didn't understand why in her eyes, Jack could do no wrong. It must be some secret experience they shared in her world. He hoped it wasn't anything... that required a rare Tea.
"It's late," Jack stood and called to them over the fire. "I'm turning in for the night. We will continue on in the morning." And with that, he disappeared into the darkness behind the fire. Alice was offered a future with a prince but for the moment it appeared she had chosen the pauper.
"We should get some sleep too," Alice suggested.
Hatter agreed, holding up one finger asking her to wait in the same fashion as when they first met in the Tea Shoppe. The memory, though only a few days old, gripped her with an almost nostalgic affection for the Wonderlander. She crossed her arms loosely and grinned fondly as he grabbed a cover from the pack behind one of the saddles and held it out for her. "There's one blanket. You should have it, the wind comes off cold from the lands of the White kingdom."
"We'll share it," Alice decided, smiling amicably. She liked Hatter well enough and there was no reason for either of them to go cold. She had learned Wonderlanders were less hormonally driven than humans, so she could only assume Hatter would be nothing but virtuous. Besides, his simple little gesture had been entirely too endearing.
"Share it," Hatter repeated to himself. He looked down at the blanket in his hands suspiciously and then after Alice who was already walking over to a wide old tree at the edge of the clearing.
The half of him that was elated to get close to Alice was at war with the half of him that was fairly sure she'd just made up with her boyfriend. Hatter had left them alone to escape the supreme awkwardness of witnessing Jack attempting to smooth over his lies. Had he known this would be the result, Hatter wished he'd stayed to hear what was said.
"Is it me or did the forest get denser?" Alice asked, looking out into the woods.
"Kat," Hatter mused. "She came through for us."
"She got the trees to move?"
"Yes. Asked the trees to shift to throw off the posse that's after us," Hatter explained. "The Suits'll walk through the same stretch of woods and suddenly it will look like a different place, turning 'em in circles."
"That's good," Alice supposed, though she didn't quite understand it.
She took the blanket from Hatter and shook it out so the fabric fluttered down in front of her. Turning the cover over her arm, she sat with her back against the tree and patted the ground next to her expectantly in an open invitation to Hatter.
"Alice, we don't normally, um..." he faltered.
He never thought he'd have to explain obvious social norms to someone. In Wonderland, sharing a sleeping space was not something two adults would do. It simply wouldn't cross their minds. While Hatter liked the idea of cuddling up with Alice, given the pleasant feelings he had experienced since meeting her, what she was asking was still unorthodox. It would take time for him to get used to her Oyster customs.
"I know," she smiled up at him. "I promise I won't bite," Alice said in a voice that sent a shiver up Hatter's spine.
Well that cinched it. Because really, who was here to judge him anyway?
"Right," he resolved and plopped down beside her, placing his hat safely on his knee.
Alice arranged the blanket over them and around their shoulders neatly. Hatter took a deep breath and lifted the arm closest to her in offering. If he still had any chance of winning her from the Prince of Wonderland, this was his first small gambit to test her reaction. He exhaled in relief when she took his offer automatically, ducking under his arm and resting her head on his chest.
Her hand came around and found it's way under his jacket again, pressing softly against his side in a loose embrace. Hatter's heart once more fluttered madly in his chest and he doubted sleep would come to him tonight.
"Good night, Hatter," Alice said softly. Hatter felt the words reverberate through him in a completely opposite intonation from their first night together.
"Good night, Alice," he breathed and thanked the lucky star that allowed him this perfect moment.