Return to Wonderland (Alice/Hatter)

Jealousy

Alice felt the woman's stomach, as she had been instructed in school and reassured the woman that her child would be healthy.
"You are near your due date, I would say no more than a month before your child is born." The woman had not realised how soon it would be. Alice gave her an ointment that had done her cousins a world of good and insisted that the woman come back if she felt any discomfort.

Mirana had sourced a physician from another kingdom within Wonderland, to teach Alice of all Wonderland treatments. His name was Atticus and she was rather jealous of Alice when she had seen him, handsome as he was.
"Hello Alice, I am delighted to be teaching you." Alice thought him to be a handsome man. His hair was a dusty blonde, styled away from his face and he dressed in earth tones, to match his brown eyes.

Mirana left them and wondered if she had made a mistake. She hoped that Atticus would not upset Tarrant in any way, but worried that it most definitely would. There was nothing she could do now, except hope that Tarrant was not feeling in a jealous mood.

Alice enjoyed Atticus enormously. He didn't put her down like the men in her home world had. He knew that she was capable. He taught her how to make an anti-growth serum out of a similar compound to the cake that she had eaten upon her first time in wonderland. She told him about her trials the last time she was in Wonderland and they laughed and Alice decided that she liked this man very much.

Tarrant had heard that the physician's had opened and he thought he should take Alice a lunch for her first day. He brought his tea and made cheese sandwiches. He couldn't wait to see Alice. However, his mood quickly soured when he saw her through the window, with a young man, laughing. She placed her hand on his arm as they laughed and he looked at her in a way that Tarrant was more than familiar with. He could knock, he could interrupt, but he did not see the point. He became filled with envious rage and stomped back to his home.

Alice was so tired after her long day of seeing patients and training with Atticus that she was positively exhausted. However, she wanted to tell Tarrant about her first day, so she pulled on her coat and walked over to his house, which took about half an hour and knocked at his door. She received no reply. She could not disturb him at work, which was where she guessed he was. So, she turned and ventured back home.

Mirana was waiting for her there, when Alice returned home.
"Oh hello, there you are." Alice explained that she had been the Tarrant's house and found him not at home. Mirana became worried that she might have done wrong with Atticus, but wanted to put it right.
"I came here to ask you to throw a moving in party, so that we might celebrate your return to Wonderland and your new position." She told Alice, over tea and cakes.
"Why yes, I rather like the sound of that." She told Mirana.
"I would get your training with Atticus out of the way first though, I believe he is itching to return to his fiancé." Alice looked up then, he had not mentioned a fiancé. But then, she was unsure why he would, they were not that well acquainted. It was no matter to her. She would merely complete her training and then send Atticus back to his lover.

It was settled. Alice worked harder than she ever had. It seemed that most of Wonderland medicine worked hand in hand with her knowledge of biology. She put the party to the back of her mind, so that she might concentrate on her studies and finish early.

Atticus was incredibly impressed at how quickly Alice was learning. She seemed to have a determination that he had never seen before. He loved his Gertrude, but he couldn't help admiring Alice for both her looks and her abilities.

Everyday Alice would go to Hatter's, to have tea with him, and every day he was not home. She was beginning to think that she had offended him and sighed, hoping dearly that she had not. Hatter was one of her closest friends and past that, he held a little place in her heart that she could not even truly admit to herself, let alone him. She knew that she cared, because this felt a lot like a rejection to her and it hurt.