Disclaimer: I don't think that Lewis Carroll or Tim Burton would put their username as redheadturtlequeen, therefore, I am not them and do not own either of those fabulous plotlines or characters.

AN: this little plot bunny just kind of came and slapped me in the face the other day, so I thought that I would give it a shot.

Chapter 1: Back to London.

She had never understood life. She had her theories, but never a certain idea of how everything worked and came to be. It disconcerted her. The uncertainty of it and the fact that she had no way of knowing for sure. Normally she would easily think up a solution and explanation that she would readily believe, no matter how ludicrous, but that was not the case anymore.

She had given up dreaming not long ago. After she had woken up from that dream about a magical place called wonderland, she had spent the next three months having continuous dreams/nightmares about the place. And every time she had woken from them, she had been wanting, aching to go back to the wondrous place. And it completely tore her up that she couldn't visit the place and stay there with all of her wonderful friends. Because it wasn't real. Even though it had felt constantly like reality, she had to always remind herself that it wasn't. After a while, she had gotten tired of all of the grief that these dreams were causing her, so she gave up. She had stopped allowing herself to imagine, so she would be able to avoid the pain that she had been caused by these lies that she had so desperately wanted to believe in. At first it was hard, but after a while, she had actually stopped doubting that they were just that; lies.

While Alice stood on the deck of the boat that he and all the crew had called home for the past thirteen months, Lord Ascot stood silently observing the girl from the windows of his quarters. Over the time they spent on this boat, he, and all the crew for that matter, had noticed the very prominent change in Alice. It almost seemed as though she had been replaced by an Alice-like robot. She no longer had that childish innocence about her. No longer skipped around as though she had not a care in the world, nor spent large periods of time entertaining herself by just daydreaming with that no longer familiar far off, contented look on her face. He was quite worried about her. After spending large amounts of time with the brilliant girl, he had come to care for her as the daughter he never had. He could only hope that being home for a while would bring her old self back.

They had decided to return to England for 2 weeks to do some catching up with their respective families. Lord Ascot had gotten recently gotten a letter from his wife saying that their son Hamish was engaged to be married to Fiona Chattaway, and Alice and he were both invited to the wedding. Also, Margaret had just given birth to a son, so Alice was desperate to meet her little nephew.

Their navigator announced that they would be arriving at the port in Queenborough shortly. Alice had to admit, she felt slightly frightened at the prospect of returning home after all this time. She had no idea how her family felt about her decisions. They had tried to persuade her not to go before she left for china, and instead to meet with a nice suitor that they had in mind, but her opinion would not sway. Though they seemed supportive when they had gone to see her off, she was worried whether they would try to set her up again as soon as she returned.

Her worries were cut short as when realised that they were docking at the port already. As she glanced over the railing, she could see her entire family (except for Margaret, Lowell, and their new baby of course) straining their necks to try and see her. Well, here goes nothing, she thought to herself as she put on a happy face and started to descend the ramp that one of the crew members had laid out for them.

After being home for a while, she started to realise that maybe she had had nothing to worry about in seeing her mother again. All she did was ask her the usual questions; how are you faring, are they treating you well, what was it like in China, ect. No mentions of potential suitors, or doubts of her decisions. Every thing was going rather perfect.

"Alice, there is someone I would like you to meet."

Or maybe not.

"Mother, please-"

"No, Alice, this has gone on long enough! You have gotten what you wanted; have seen the 'real world' as you so call it, and now it is time for you to settle down with a nice man."

"Mom, just because I am nineteen now, does not mean that I am in any way ready to settle down!"

"Just meet with him, please that is all I ask," her mother replied, looking slightly worn out from her protests.

"Fine, I will meet with him, but I can't promise anything," she hastily added the last bit as she saw her mothers triumphant expression.

"So, when is he coming?" which was asked more out of wanting to seem polite then actual curiosity.

"Well, he'll actually be joining us for dinner tonight, along with your sister, Lowell and the baby."

"And what is this mystery man like, if I may ask?"

As her mother launched into a long ramble, Alice slowly tuned her out, gathering very little from the description. Apparently his name was James Calloway, he came from a long line of very rich bankers, and sounded dreadfully boring. Honestly, did her mother learn nothing from Hamish?

Just as she thought that she was free to leave after her mothers speech was done, she hastily added "and Alice, please be on your best behaviour, after all, these people do control our family funds!"

It was going to be a long night.

AN: I know that it's not that long, but it's more of a prologue type first chapter. The others will be longer though! Thanks for reading and R&R!

Chapter 2