AN: I know, I know. Another new story when I should be finishing my other two first. Don't worry, I am still working on them. But this story has been rattling around in my head for some time now, so I finally started writing it. This is a stand-alone (ie: not a part of my regular Hatter-verse), but it does draw from an idea I floated in Hare and Hatter.

Enjoy. And please let me know what you think (please review!).

...

Alice tried to stifle a yawn as she stared at a large gray canvas, blank save for a long squiggly blue line that appeared to be constructed of spray-painted cornflakes, and a few reddish dots on either side. "The River" said a placard below it, and Alice struggled not to roll her eyes.

It wasn't that she didn't appreciate art. She loved art – Monet, DaVinci, Van Gogh. She had even taken a course at university. But this "local artists" exhibit had been one of the least inspiring events that Hatter had dragged her to yet.

At least he seemed to be enjoying himself. Everything in her world was still new and exciting to him, and in a lot of ways, he had opened her eyes to just how good her world really was. Shops on every corner, selling anything one could think of to buy. Hundreds of kinds of tea... real tea. Pizza, and delivered to the door no less. Books on every subject, widely available to anyone who wanted to read.

And when it came to the arts, Hatter was like a starved man who suddenly found himself at a feast. Music. Theater. Artwork. All artistic expressions that were banned under the rule of the Queen of Hearts, here in seemingly unending supply. Since he had come to her world, Alice had found herself at more local theater, concerts and art shows then she had ever gone to in her life.

Hatter rematerialized at her side, and examined the canvas before them. Alice was pleased to see that he seemed similarly unimpressed with this particular piece. He had somehow seen "inspiration" in most of the pieces in the room, and seemed to be fitting in a little too well with the modern-art crowd that was at the exhibit.

After a moment of pondering it, Hatter grinned and grabbed Alice's hand, pulling her along through a doorway. Alice barely stifled a groan when she realized there was an entire second room of unexplored artwork. This was going to take all day.

"You so owe me dinner," she groused at him. But there was no response. She turned to find him staring, wide eyed, at one of the exhibits.

It was an old-fashioned door, standing in the middle of the room. On one side, it was covered in distressed and aged blue paint. On the other, it was painted bright red, although the frame was the same color of blue. The placard below read:

To Where?

By Sparrow

"Hatter?"

But he had released her hand and was now circling the door, an astonished look on his face. She watched him for a long moment, confusion written clearly on her face.

Finally, he turned to her, and his eyes were bright with excitement. "It's a Wonderland door!" he exclaimed. He circled around it again. "I wonder where it goes?"

Now Alice was staring at him as though he was crazy. "Hatter, you can see both sides of the door. It doesn't go anywhere." Then she grabbed Hatter's hand and pulled it back. He was reaching for the doorknob. "Hatter! It doesn't go anywhere."

He turned and faced her again. "Wonderland doors are different, Alice." He looked at the chipped blue side. "Doors in Wonderland are magic."

Alice looked at him quizzically. "I thought you said that the magic was gone from Wonderland."

Hatter nodded slightly. "Most of it is. But some of the doors didn't realize that." At Alice's confused look, he continued. "Did you notice how many doors there were in the city?"

Alice paused. She hadn't really thought about it. Whenever she thought about Wonderland, she pictured the dizzying heights and drops. But then she remembered the path to the Great Library. There were at least a dozen doors on that wall, all right beside each other, all looking exactly the same, but they were all so close together that the bus-elevator couldn't possibly have fit behind just one.

"There were a lot," Alice admitted. "But some of them had to be decoys."

Hatter nodded. "Some of them. Some doors, if you open them, lead to a blank wall, or a hallway with no other doors. And some of the doors lead to a different part of the city. There are even a few doors that never open to the same place twice."

Alice noticed that Hatter's story was drawing a small crowd of patrons, and she thought for a moment to suggest they continue the conversation later, but she was curious. She looked at the door in front of her. "How?" she asked.

Hatter shrugged. "It's Wonderland. Doors are like that there." He grinned slightly, a bit nervously, now noticing the crowd too. He had to remind himself, ever since he had arrived, that Wonderland was just a kid's story here. And this crowd was interested in hearing that story.

He took off his hat and did a few basic tricks with it as he continued. "It makes it easy to stay hidden." He flipped his hat back onto his head. "If you don't want anyone to find you, you just change your door." He looked, a little longingly, at the doorknob, but didn't reach for it again. "I wonder if this door remembers where it's from?"

...