Sighing, I watched through the window as Cheshire fooled around with the bushes outside. He had made breakfast before I got up, leaving it on the table for me to find on my own. Instead of eating, I had gone looking for him and he had solidly avoided me by making an excuse to do chores. Before I could protest a mere word, he had slipped off. Now, I frowned and rested my chin in my palm as I continued to watch him. Cleaning the weeds, he claimed to be doing. What weeds? His garden was almost as spotless as Rab's. There weren't any weeds to clean.

When he began uselessly fluffing the flowers in the bushes and picking at the fallen leaves on the ground, I grew irritated. I'd had enough of this. Pushing my chair back, I stood up and stormed outside. "Did I do something wrong?" I asked, going right up to Cheshire with narrowed eyes.

He stared up at me with an innocent look of surprise. "Of course not. What would ever give you that idea?" he asked. I could practically see him squirming.

"How about the fact that you've been practically bending over backwards to keep some distance between us?" I suggested. "What about you leaving me a cold breakfast with the sole intention of not wanting to have to have a meal at the same table as me?"

His eyes wandered away from mine, knowing he was being caught. "I haven't been doing that. You must be imagining things," he insisted.

My patience snapped. "You're unbelievable!" I burst out. He still didn't look at me so I turned away sharply, heading back towards the house. "If you're going to ignore me then I'm going to ignore you. Don't talk to me," I said.

He dropped the wilted flower he'd been holding in surprise, dropping his act along with it. "What? But, Alice," he started.

I stormed off, refusing to wait and listen to whatever bullshit explanation he tried to come up with. He stared at my back as I reentered the house and slammed the door behind me. What a jerk, I thought irritably to myself. My head was in the storm clouds as I walked towards my room. I crossing the living room when hands grabbed my arms and tugged me back, forcing me to sit down on the couch with a bounce. I tensed in surprise for a second before identical voices piped up with delight on either side of me. "Did you and Cheshire get into a fight?"

I stuttered, staring at the twins. "How did you get in here?" I asked.

The one to my right grinned triumphantly. "Dum and I climbed through Cheshire's window," he said. I frowned and tried to stand up. They held onto my arms and kept me in place. "Enough about us. We wanna know about you," Dee said.

"Yeah, and why you and Cheshire were fighting!" Dum added excitedly.

They leaned towards me expectantly. I frowned. "Fighting...?" I suddenly realized I didn't really even know why. Thankfully, I didn't have to answer as just in the moment, Cheshire walked through the door and his gaze lingered on my face. My frowned turned to slight anger again when I saw him and I turned away. "That's something you should be asking him," I said.

The twins glanced at Chesh and he looked like a cornered animal. He offered a shrug in response which I glared at. "We weren't fighting," he denied, going to the kitchen.

With a sour expression, I unwrapped the twins' arms from around my waist and stood up. "I have some... things I have to do. I'll be back later," I said.

Chesh frowned in my direction, but I turned away and walked out the door. As I was leaving, I heard the twins start pestering Cheshire for details, begging for him to tell them what was up with "boy-Alice". I heard Chesh tell them crossly to find someone else to bother and they started complaining. I sighed and started walking in a general direction. I didn't really have any place in mind for where I was going, I just couldn't stand to be around someone who so blatantly lied to my face. Cheshire was a coward.

Somehow, I ended up at Rab's house. I hesitated for second and glanced back. Cheshire didn't like for me to hang around Rab. He said the white rabbit was stuffed full of superiority and coated with a fine layer of narcissism. However, just then, I felt like that description fit Cheshire better than it fit Rab. Deciding anywhere was better than where I had been, I hurried to the door and knocked.

*******

Cheshire didn't know why he was so worried about Alice, but it didn't feel right just letting him leave like that. He told the twins to stay at the house so they'd be out of sight of any patrolling card-soldiers, and Chesh hurried outside. He sniffed the air and smelled Alice to his right. He must have gone into the woods. Cheshire climbed into a tree and hurried towards Alice's scent, following the smell of fresh morning muffins, a scent that had attached itself to Alice only a day after his arrival in Wonderland.

A few minutes later, Chesh spotted him walking in front of Rab's place. He frowned as Alice stopped and looked around, considering his course of actions. Then Cheshire's gaze darkened when Alice walked up to Rab's door and knocked. What did Alice want with that neat-freak white rabbit? Chesh watched with narrowed eyes as Rab opened the door and smiled at Alice warmly. As Chesh strained his ears, he heard Alice ask if Rab could grant him a favor. Rab nodded and welcomed him in, the door closing behind them.

This couldn't mean good things, Cheshire thought. He slipped out of the tree and peeked through the window into Rab's living room just as they were sitting down to a pot of tea. Alice turned to Rab with a frown, beginning to speak. Cheshire couldn't make out what they were saying, but his breath turned to a hiss as Rab nodded at Alice and smiled, placing a hand on Alice's shoulder.

Cheshire wanted to growl, he wanted to snarl at Rab. But he didn't want to be caught sneaking around, so he clenched his teeth and slipped back into the trees. He made his way back to the house just as people started showing up for the meeting. Though he didn't want the others to know of his fight with Alice, he had a hard time smiling at anyone the way he normally did. It didn't help that Alice and Rab were the last to arrive, Alice going to his room and closing the door without a word to Cheshire or the others.

Cheshire gritted his teeth and crossed his arms over his chest, distancing himself from the group with a silent boundary. With his tail flicking from side to side around his ankles, Cheshire watched the white hair animal sit down across from him. Rab noticed Cheshire sudden hostility and merely raised an eyebrow. Chesh narrowed his eyes.

The meeting began shortly after everyone was seated and lasted for about two hours. The twins gave everyone some pretty good information about the queen and the group did a little more planning for the day they would storm the castle. Alice didn't say much unless someone asked him a question, but he seemed to be understanding the situation a bit better now. He stuck annoyingly close to Rab most of the night, sometimes talking to the twins or Hatter, but he didn't say so much as a single word to Cheshire. The feline tried to talk to him, but he'd either pretend Chesh didn't exist or he'd find a way to get away before the cat could get close.

By the end of the meeting, Cheshire was seething through his teeth. He didn't know how much more of this he could take. Rab came and stood next to me as Hatter told Mouse to schedule another meeting date. He slid onto the couch to Cheshire's left. "So, how did Alice do during the rescue?" he asked.

Chesh didn't want to talk to him. "He did fine, but he doesn't follow orders very well," he said curtly.

Rab chuckled. "Yeah, but he's a smart kid. His mother is the same way," he said.

Cheshire felt slightly annoyed by that comment and shot him a cold glare. "You certainly know a lot. You guys hang out much?" he asked, hoping to get a rise out of the rabbit.

However, Rab merely shrugged. "Not really. He's usually here with you anyways," he replied.

Sharp claws slid their way out a little as Cheshire registered the lie. He bit back his canines. "I guess. But you must know something I don't," he pressed, wanting a confession.

Rab shifted his eyes to look at Cheshire and the cat saw a challenge. Rab smiled. "Not a thing," he said.

Chesh was about to say something when Alice suddenly came up, still ignoring Cheshire by putting his full attention on Rab. "I'm going to go get my stuff. I'll be right back," he said.

Cheshire frowned. "Stuff? What are you talking about?" he asked, fearing the joke was suddenly on him.

Alice glanced at him but turned away without a word. Cheshire waited until he was out of sight before he grabbed Rab by the collar. "What the hell are you guys planning?" he demanded to know.

Looking completely calm, Rab said, "Don't blame this on me. Alice came and confided in me personally that you've been a less-than-satisfactory roommate of late. You have some explaining to do if you plan to fix this."

Cheshire growled and was about to let his claws all the way out when Alice came back into the living room, a bag in his hands. "Okay, Rab. We can go," he said.

Rab pulled Chesh's hands off and escorted Alice to the door. He glanced back at me for a second and gave a shrug of apology. "See you," he said. Then he and Alice walked out the door.

I stared at the door as it closed. Then I whipped around and dragged my claws down the wall with a vicious swipe, shouting my frustration to an empty house. "Damn it!" I stormed into my room and slammed my door as hard as I could, feeling the vibration in the floor as the whole house shook from the force.

*******

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