A/N: Hi, everyone. Long time no see. So, I jumped on the bandwagon and did the whole 10 songs writing exercise. It feels like a cop-out, but I'll definitely be back onto the actual chapters next week. I've already got it mostly written. Now you get a view into my *ahem* eclectic (read: spastic and embarrassing) music collection.

I disclaim.

1. Song: Don't Trust Me - 3OH!3

Situation: She finally trusts him.

"Oh, I see. You don't trust me. Fine!"

"You still don't trust me after I...I risked my neck, gettin' you out of there."

"You still don't trust me?"

Alice runs through in her head all of th times she didn't trust him. And now, looking at his face, earnest through all of the "just cuts and bruises," she realizes that she, does, finally. She trusts this man more than she ever has anyone, except maybe her mother. And so, she throws her arms around his neck, ecstatic that he's standing before her, so that she can finally demonstrate that she will show the same kind of faith in him that he had shown in her since the beginning.

"I thought you were dead..."

2. Song: Romeo and Juliet - The Brown Derbies (a cappella version of the Dire Straits song)

Situation: What if Alice was still living with her mom, and Hatter had an apartment in the city? After the end of the miniseries.

"Love struck Romeo, sings a sweet soft serenade, and he's laying everybody low, with the love song that he made, finds a street light, steps out of the shade, and says something like, "you and me, babe, how about it?"

"Hey, Alice! Alice!"

Alice slides open the winder to the street, and looks down at her Hatter. "Hatter! Come on up."

"No, you come down. I have something to show you."

She stands at the window for another moment, looking down at him inquiringly, then pulls her head back in, and looks at her mother, "Mom, I know we were in the middle of dinner, but Hatter's..."

"...Just being Hatter," Carol replied, having long before accepted the strange nickname Alice had given her boyfriend.

Alice rushed down the stairs and out the door, intrigued as to what Hatter had in store for her tonight.

3. Song: Far Away - Nickelback

Situation: What if Hatter had taken longer to show up than he did at the end of the miniseries? Say, a week or two (our time, not Wonderland time).

"And I love you, I loved you all along. And I missed you, been far away for far too long."

They sit in Hatter's comfortably apartment, just enjoying one another's company. Suddenly, Hatter turns to her.

"I'm so sorry to took me so long to come to you. I missed you more than I can say, but I had no idea if you felt the same...I thought maybe you had just come here to tie up loose ends, and then were coming back to Jack. But the weeks dragged on, and you didn't return, and then Jack's reengagement to the Duchess was announced, and I just had to see if you wanted me. I love you, Alice, I have for... a while. I missed you so much. It was like the worst possible concoction of tainted Teas, but I stuck it out, because I figured it was better not knowing than having you...not feel the same.

He leaned his forehead against hers, and whispered again "I missed you."

4. Song: Mockingbird - Rob Thomas

Situation: What if, after their adventure, Alice and Hatter just can't seem to make it work?

"Maybe you and me got lost somewhere, we can't move on, we can't stay here. Well maybe we've just had enough, well maybe we ain't meant for this love."

"Just get the hell out! Get out! I just...I can't look at you anymore," Alice screamed, throwing everything in reach at Hatter.

There was tragedy in his eyes as he turned and walked out the door, without a word. Alice held it together just long enough for the door to close behind him, and then sank to her nears, her whole body wracked with sobs.

This wasn't the first time she had thrown him out, ad he would come back, she knew he would--he always did. But what if...what if they weren't mean to be together? What if the whole thing had been a farce, a too-happy fairytale ending. Nothing could end like that.

She tried to imagine a life without Hatter, and the vision was worse than any fight they'd ever had, because, as rocky as the relationship had been, it had also given her the best days of her life.

Alice sat there on her knees for a few more seconds, then stood up, drying her eyes. She grabbed a jacket and her purse, and set off after him, determined to do whatever she must to make this right.

5. Song: Two is Better than One - Boys Like Girls

Situation: Hatter remembers the first time he saw Alice.

"I remember what you wore on the first day you came into my life and I thought 'Hey, this could be something.'"

She had been beautiful, and defiant, and damn strong, not giving an inch despite being lost and alone. Not alone for long, though, thought Hatter. He had been determined, from the beginning not the let her out of his sight. He wasn't sure when the vague interest had turned to love, but turn it had. He had resisted for a long time, understandable, as he had lived his life alone for such a long time. He wasn't used to letting people in. But he had made room for her.

Hatter turned, pulled from his reverie by the sound of dozens of chairs scraping as people stood to look at the bride coming down the aisle. His bride. His Alice.

Oh yes, in this case, two is definitely better than one, he thought, as he took her hands, ready, finally, to turn "I" into "we."

6. Song: Good Girls Go Bad - Cobra Starship

Alice had always been a good kid. Really, she had. Never ditched school, got good grades, never--never--missed training or a tournament. But there was just something about Hatter that made her want to break rules.

And when it came to Hatter, no rule was too strict to be broken.

7. Song: Your Love is My Drug - Ke$ha (don't judge)

"I get so high when you're with me but crash and crave you when you leave..."

Alice wondered if Hatter had ever sold a tea that gave someone a high as big as she got when he was around.

She thought she was hiding pretty well how happy she was when he was around but apparently it was just as obvious to everyone around her.

Or, to her mom, at least.

Carol pulled her daughter aside one day they were spending out with Hatter. "Alice, I want you to be careful. You seem...very attached to this David boy."

"Yeah, Mom, isn't that a good thing? I haven't kicked him out yet. You're always telling me to keep one around long enough to actually get to know him. Now I have. What's the problem?"

"You just seem to...orient yourself around him so much. And you've only known him a few days. Just be careful, okay."

"Right, Mom, will do." Alice called over her shoulder as she skipped back to Hatter, happier than she'd ever been.

8. Voice Mail #4 - Jonathan Larson (RENT)

Situation: What if Hatter was searching for a job?

"Mr. Hatter!" a high-pitched, sing-song, sleazy-sounding voice rang out over the answering machine. "The patrons loved you. We want you baack. Call me baack. Haatter, sell us your soul! Just kidding."

Alice pressed the delete button on the machine. "It's okay. You don't need a job that bad."

9. Gold Digger - Glee Cast

Situation: What if Hatter had to fend off Tea-heads who just want their fix?

"Oh, Hatter," slurred the busty blonde with the big, glazed-over blue eyes "You're office is lovely. Is this real grass? I love it. You know what else I love? Joy Tea." She saunters up to him, and rubs her fingers up and down his arms, up his neck, and tries to tangle them in his hair, "I would do anything for some joy, Hatter, if you know what I mean."

He sighs, removing her hands from around his neck. "Come on, love, time to sleep it off." He tows her over to his counch, and lays her down, placing a blanket on top of her overly-curvy body. She falls asleep almost instantly, her whole system having been ravaged by the tea there. Hatter sits himself down in his chair for a long night's work, placing his headphones over his ears to drown out the blonde's snores.

It was going to be a long night.

10. Once Upon a Dream - Disney's Sleeping Beauty

Situation: What if Alice dreamed Hatter before she met him?

Alice had always had dreamed vividly; good or bad, happy or sad, she always remembered them as well as any real-life memory.

Which is why she was stunned when she saw one of her dreams made flesh before her, in a world she had never expected to visit. The two men (one man?) were mirror images of one another, right down to the pork pie hat and slightly nasally voice.

What was this place?

A/N2: Here they are. Some of them I like, some of them not so much. Number 8 will make a lot more sense if you've heard the song, and I encourage you to look it up; it's only about 45 seconds long. Like it? Hate it? Let me know. And thanks to all of you who have stuck with this.

Till next time (which will be sooner than three weeks this time, promise),
Headphones.