A/N: This story was inspired by, and dedicated to, my older sister. She has an acount under the name Lancesinmyheart, with two stories that you should really check out, and I have to say that she is the biggest Wonderland fan I have ever met. I hope you enjoy this story.

"Alice, I've been considering words that begin with the letter M lately." The Hatter gave a rather mad-grin from across the table. Alice looked up from her tea-cup, an odd purple steam had begun to rise from it several moments ago and she was almost positive that it wasn't supposed to be doing that, but then again you never knew what was supposed to happen and what wasn't supposed to happen in Wonderland.

"Have you Hatter? More words for Chesher, I presume?" The last set of M words that the Hatter had made for Chesher had been none too pleasant, the vanishing cat had been fuming for days afterwards. He apparently disliked being called a 'mutt' and a 'mongrel' very much. Not that Alice could blame him though, she would truly hate to be called any of those things and she wasn't even an animal!

The Hatter gave a loud laugh, the type that truly deserved to be called 'mad-laughter', and put his own tea cup down. His tea was putting out a truly brilliant shade of blue steam and Alice was beginning to wonder if the tea was safe to drink at all. "No, no! Not for Chesher at all! But…" He leaned, first forward in his seat, and then backwards as he spoke. "Why don't you guess Alice?"

Alice blinked, sitting her tea-cup down on the table and pushing it a few inches away from her, as she leaned towards the Hatter. "Guess? Alright…" She paused for a moment, running all of the M words that she knew threw her mind. "Have you thought words up for the White Queen? Or perhaps for Mally?"

Words like 'majesty', 'mini', 'mouse', and 'magnificent', flashed through her mind. They all seemed fitting for their fellow Wonderlanders and Alice didn't think that Hatter would make a list of M words for McTwisp or the March Hare, but then she hadn't thought that he would make one up for Chesher either and he had.

"No, Alice. My list isn't for them. And I'd let you guess more but I just don't think that I can wait any longer to tell you! They're very good words you see I've been thinking about them for a while." That was unusual, Alice couldn't help but think to herself, the Hatter normally said his M words as he thought of them.

"Alright, Hatter. I would love to hear you new M words. I do hope they're more friendly than your last list." She smiled slightly at the surprised look on Hatter's face. It was adorable really, how he would forget some things and not know that others were offensive, of course he knew that his list would offend Chesher. That was why he chose those words, she was sure of it.

"Well yes," the Hatter put his hands in his lap, fiddling with some thing or another that she couldn't see, a pin or a button most likely. "They are much more friendly than the last list, they are for you after all." He put what-ever he had been toying with back in his pocket as he stood up, taking slow strides around the table and towards her.

"Mischief." Step. "Masterful." Step. "Muchness." Step. "Marvelous." Step. "Matrimony." He came to a stop in front of Alice, that mad-grin in place as he looked down at her. He was very tall after all, far taller than Alice would ever grow to be, and he seemed to tower over her when she sat.

"Matrimony?" She looked up, and up and up, some days he seemed much taller than he really was, more so when something she didn't understand was going on. Which happened a lot down here in Wonderland, at least since she came back from China it did, nothing much ever happened up there in the Above World. "What is that supposed to mean, Hatter?"

It truly astounded her, astounded and confounded and confused her, when he nodded eagerly at her question. "Yes Alice, truly the best word out of the list my lad. It brings up a question I've been mulling on for a while, not really a riddle, no not a true riddle but what brought up the question was. Yes, it had me thinking for days, weeks even, in fact I've been thinking about it since before the Frabjous Day but I couldn't ask you then. I wanted to, truly I did but-"

"Hatter." Alice interrupted her friends maddened ramblings, something that he normally only did when on the subject of hats, with a slightly worried look on her face. What on earth was he going on about? A riddle, no a question, that he had been pondering since Frabjous Day? "What are you talking about Hatter?"

Hatter had the decency to look sheepish at least, seemingly ashamed for getting so off track, but after only a second or two he had his mad-grin back in place. "Sorry. I just get so excited, I've been waiting for a while you see."

"It's fine Hatter, just please, tell me what you're talking about." He had tipped his head to the side for a moment, almost as if he had forgotten what he had gotten so excited about for a moment, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a button.

It was a very pretty button with blues and purples and reds all swirled together in a colorful mess, but it was still just a normal button. Not something that should prompt such excitement form the Mad Hatter. Though, her mind pointed out to her, Wonderland had different meanings for everything so this button very well could mean something.

He held the button out to her, in what she supposed should have been a dramatic flourish but looked more like he had almost dropped the button, and the grin on his face seemed to widen, so much so that it greatly resembled Chesh's grin.

"Alice, will you marry me?"

THE END