The Universe's Mixer

Alice had told Hatter right off the bat that she was living in Jack's apartment. Technically, she guessed it was her apartment, too, now. But she preferred not to think of it that way. Especially since she was looking for another place to live. She'd been hoping that Hatter would ask her to stay with him, but he'd just mentioned going for pizza without her and acting as aloof as ever. He'd admitted to going through the looking glass to find her, but was it just to escape Wonderland or was it because he wanted to see her? She supposed she would never really know unless she asked him outright, and that wasn't going to happen any time soon.

She was in her room. Amazingly before the City had stopped moving, her closet had been filled with all the clothes she would normally wear, including some jis for martial arts practice. She was fingering them, wondering if she'd ever be able to teach again, when she heard the doorbell.

She was pretty sure Jack would get the door, but she was curious about who it could be and she opened the door to her room and stepped out into the hall that led to the living area and the front door.

She gave Jack a small smile and nodded as he reached the door and stood back slightly to see who was behind it.

Megan's cozy third-floor flat was clean.

Of course, this resulted in two bags full of dirty laundry that had previously been tossed everywhere. She frowned down at the bags, hefted one, grunted, and put it down, staring doubtfully out the window. The nearest laundromat wasn't that far away, but...

A little cheating was useful sometimes. And with the streets staying put, she didn't even have to worry about ending up somewhere completely weird. One Sihal Novarum Chinoth later, and she and one of the laundry bags appeared inside the laundromat in a halo of pink light. She dusted off her hands, satisfied, and dragged the bag over to the nearest empty machine.

Alice had been informed that the City was not itself. She had seen with her own eyes the way the buildings and streets rearranged themselves. For a week she'd had trouble finding Jack's her apartment. And now, suddenly, it was where it was supposed to be each time she went back to it. She hadn't really had time to get used to the fridge being full of food all the time or money being in her bank account for absolutely no reason.

This was normal for her.

Mostly.

The fact that this was neither New York nor Wonderland made it abnormal, but she prided herself on the way she was adjusting.

So far.

She missed certain people, though. And sometimes when she was walking down a crowded street, she was sure she was seeing one of them. Charlie with his shiny helmet, her mother's gently curling blond hair. But when they passed her or she managed to catch up to them, it wasn't them at all.

But that hat, directly ahead of her on the street. She was absolutely certain she'd seen it before. Her heart raced and her palms began to perspire annoyingly. She told herself not to get too excited. It probably wasn't him. But she had to check, just to be sure.

She closed the distance behind him, then when she was a foot or two away... "Hatter?"

Alice was a little concerned. She remembered waking up in the hospital after stepping through the looking glass. Her mother had been there and said that she'd been found in an abandoned building by construction workers. She'd been getting ready to leave the hospital, but that was the last thing she remembered before she found herself standing on this street corner. Had she blacked out? Sleep walked?

She might have assumed she'd gone back through the looking glass if this place didn't look exactly the opposite of Wonderland. It was a bustling city, and there seemed to be people everywhere. But none of them were people she recognized.

Were she someone else, she might have panicked a little. Maybe cried. But she was Alice Hamilton, and stranger things had happened.

Really, the only option, the only thing she could do, was explore. Otherwise, she'd never find her way back. And Alice always found her way back.