AN: My first Alice fic! Hope you like. Just a typical (in my mind) moment for Hatter and Alice a few months after the end of the series.

Disclaimer: If I'd had any say in the matter, the miniseries would've had some Charlie, some Duchess, some Alice, and a whole lot of Hatter. Oh, and I'd keep the scenery. Might keep Carol, cause of her awesome expression at the end. And that's it. Come on, like you wouldn't watch that.

"I couldn't ask you to come."

"Could've."

"No."

"Yes."

"Mmm-mmm." Alice shakes her head as minimally as possible for emphasis; she has become intent on his arm that was wrapped loosely around her waist, and begins to trace invisible patterns across his skin with the tip of her finger.

Shivering, Hatter twitches his arm away. "Stop that. It tickles."

"Really?" Craning her neck up, she manages to blow lightly at the tiny hairs at the nape of the neck. Hatter wriggles away and Alice laughs, then scoots closer to him and rests her cheek gently against his chest in apology. "Hatter?"

"Hmm?"

"Tell me about Wonderland."

"Won't be much left to tell soon." When Alice doesn't answer, he sighs resignedly and goes on. "The animals used to be able to talk, they say. Had voices and minds that worked just like the rest of us; only, they didn't think we were much use for conversation, and they retreated back into their heads and kept to the beast speak, and most of ended up losin' their intellects an' all, and they ended up like the animals in your world."

"You mean stupid, don't you?"

"Well, yeah. But there are some that lost the talk but managed to hold on to the brainpower, and they're said to be some of the most powerfully magic things you've ever known. Spiteful things, though, on account of how they're still mad that humans were so dull that the animals lost their speech in the first place. You have to watch out for them, 'cause they'll trick you and mess with your head if you let them. It's mostly your craftier animals – foxes, owls, snakes …"

Alice smiles faintly. "And cats."

"Probably ... I think, yeah, cats as well."

"If they were here, scientists would be experimenting on them to see how their brains worked."

Hatter's chuckle vibrates against Alice's cheek. "Who says they aren't on this side? The mirror's been around for centuries, and it works both ways. Just because Oysters don't know things like that can exist in their world doesn't mean they can't."

"You realize I'm an Oyster, right?"

"Ah, but you're not just an Oyster. You're Alice, slayer of Queens and savior of all Wonderland."

"Slayer of Queens?"

"Charlie's been embellishing."

"Of course he has." Alice smiles in spite of herself, but buries her face further into Hatter's chest so he can't see. "Hatter?"

It comes out a bit muffled, considering how close Alice's mouth is to Hatter's skin, and her lips tickle him a bit, but he refrains from moving away again, but only just. He isn't so successful at bottling up his laughter, but its quiet enough that he doesn't think she's heard. "Yeah?"

"Do you know about …" She pauses to get her words straight, looking up at him, earnest and determined. "What can you tell me about … about Alice?"

His eyebrows quirk. "The other Alice? Alice of legend?"

She just stares at him solemnly.

"Alright. Well, you see, Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank and having nothing to do …"

"Not what I meant." Narrowing her eyes at his cheeky grin, something occurs to her. "You memorized the book?"

He shrugs. "I know all the stories in Wonderland, or most. Tea shop owners …"

"… mingle with people, listen to them talk … you like to hear yourself talk so much, I'm surprised you ever listened to any of them."

"Well, aren't you feeling snippy this evening? Why ask if you know the answer?"

"Because I know you know more." When Hatter says nothing, Alice pulls back so she can look him in the eye. "Hatter?"

He makes a face. "And, what, I'm s'posed to just give it up? After a crack like that?"

Her eyes locked on his, Alice slides her hand behind Hatter's neck. Guiding his head down slightly so she can reach him, she kisses him, sweet and slow, and thorough enough that it only takes them a minute before they have to separate, breathing a little harder than before

"Cheater," he whispers, one hand cupping her cheek, the other resting on the curve of her back. She's almost tempted to forget about her question and continue where this is going – because this type of thing always leads to something good – but she's wanted to know for a while, and now that she'd asked...

"Spill."

Disentangling himself from her, Hatter scrunches his face up. "Let's see ... well, she wasn't quite as young as they say. Younger than you, I think, but not that much. And she was there twice. The first time, she defeated the Hearts; the second, she gave power to the Whites over the Reds. We had peace in Wonderland for almost a hundred years, thanks to her."

"Impressive."

"We think so." He looks down at Alice, who is staring at nothing in particular, clearly thinking intensely about something. "And from what I hear, she was a bit of scrapper. Like you."

"A scrapper? Thought I was stubborn, impossible, and always ran the wrong way."

"You've gotten better about the running thing." He squints at her in a pointed sort of way. "Still stubborn, though."

"I couldn't've asked you to come."

"Yes, you could have."

"Your home was destroyed because of me..."

"Could've used a place to crash then, yeah?"

"... and you nearly got killed, like, six times in two days. How did I know you'd even want to come?"

"You knew."

"Didn't."

"Did."

"Didn't."

"Fine. Explain the subway again."

"Do I need to get the map?"

"I can follow the lines, thanks very much. What I want to know is why people are traveling packed together in tiny cars that move underground."

"Because transporting people in flying boxes makes tons of sense. Or beetles."

"Scarabs."

"Whatever. I mean, traveling underground isn't fun exactly, but it beats having a city with sidewalks five feet wide with a three hundred foot drop. Uncomfortable is better than dangerous."

"Says who?" Hatter asks, but kisses the edge of her hairline so she knows he's kidding. Mostly.

"Sane people," Alice replies, but kisses his collarbone to let him know she's mostly kidding as well. "You didn't ask me to stay either. In fact, I asked if you wanted me to, and you said –"

"I thought," Hatter interupts, frowning, "that you were in love with Jack."

"Well, I wasn't."

"I didn't know that. And you didn't really have such a great time in Wonderland."

"Maybe I would have, with you. And without the Queen trying to kill me, of course."

"Or maybe you would've ended up marrying Jack." Alice practically got whiplash from turning to glare at Hatter too quickly. "Again, I didn't know."

She sighs and puts her head back on the shoulder. "We're going to have this argument a lot, aren't we?"

"We've had it at least once a week for the last few months, so yes. I think so."

"Good."

"Good?"

"Yeah, well ... we argue a lot," Hatter laughs, and she smirks, "and this one is good because it always has a happy ending. You came to my world. And now you're here."

"That was ... embarrassingly sentimental. I feel very uncomfortable right now. Ow!" He rubs his chest where she hit him. "Kidding! Come on, now. Anyway, abuse aside ... I'm glad I'm here."

He kisses her mouth gently, and she deepens it quickly; and this time Alice is quite sure that given where Hatter's hands are, and where her hands are, and that there's no longer a pressing topic to be discussed, they'll now be going back to the same good place they'd been heading to before. But before they did, she has to say it once, out loud, because she never gets tired of saying it.

"I love you."

And she thinks she'll never get tired of hearing "I love you too" being whispered back.

AN: OHMYGOD! Who else is in love with Andrew Lee Potts? That's a silly question – if you've seen Alice or Primeval, then of course you do. If you haven't, then you probably don't, but you should go watch them both right now. Especially if you like my fanfic, because other than picking up my dangling long-term fics (sorry for the wait everybody!), expect mostly Halice and Conby (and maybe some Seddie) for the next few weeks. Also, I hope this is ok. First of all, because I haven't written anything at all in months, and I haven't written fanfic since early summer I think. Second, because I started this a couple weeks ago, got distracted by videos, and picked it up again yesterday. Third ... because damn is that ending cheestastic. Which is fun, but still ... wow. Anyway, hope you like it, go watch copious amounts of ALP, and I'll be updating more soon. Love? Hate? Review!