AN: Something a little fluffier and funnier to make up for yesterday. Although I'm not sorry in the least. Rather proud, actually. :)

Kids

"Hatter, can we have kids?"

Hatter promptly choked on his cup of tea, spraying little droplets of brown liquid across the clear surface of the tabletop. He struggled to get his breathing back under control as Alice rubbed a soothing hand over his spine. By the time he could breathe properly again he was red in the face. He glanced up at her with watery eyes and managed a thick, "Uh, righ' now?"

The confusion and concern on Alice's face fled as a smile blossomed on her lips. "Oh, God, no," she said hastily, passing him a napkin. Hatter accepted it gratefully and mopped up the spilt tea. "I just meant in general, down the road," she clarified. "If we want to."

"Sure, I reckon," Hatter said with a shrug. "Why?"

"I was just thinking," Alice said evasively. Hatter shot her a pointed look over the rim of his teacup and she sighed. "I mean, you are a lot older. I thought maybe Wonderlanders are too different from humans."

"Oh." Hatter's face fell slightly and he lowered the tea cup back to the table. "Hadn' thought o' that."

Alice began fidgeting with the silver band on her left hand, a nervous tic she'd picked up in the last few months. Hatter reached over and set his hand on hers comfortingly. "You know, me mum always said her mum was an Oyster," he said casually. "Course she was a bit barmy, but that's one o' the things she seemed pretty 'sistent on."

"That would make you quarter Oyster," Alice pointed out in amusement.

Hatter's nose wrinkled slightly. "Reckon that does," he agreed. "See, love, we're not so diff'rent as you thought. We'll be fine." He squeezed her hand reassuringly. "What's brought this on? This about your cousin?"

The week previous one of Alice's cousins had come up to visit and she'd brought with her a tiny little cherub-cheeked baby girl and a noisy, energetic little wisp of a toddler. Although Alice wasn't fond of her cousin, she had to admit the children were beautiful. What had really struck her though was Hatter. "You were just so good with them," she said, looking up at him fondly.

"Cute lil snap-dragonflies they was," he said with a grin. "That Brady's got all the workin's to be a proper businessman."

"He's three," Alice pointed out in amusement.

"I could con earlier 'an that," Hatter replied with a shrug.

Somehow Alice didn't doubt that in the least. "It was just, after seeing how good you were with them I thought you must want your own someday," she explained. "And if I can't give you that-"

The smile slid instantly from Hatter's face and he cupped her cheeks in his hands. "Now you listen'a me," he said, firm and gentle all at once. "I love you, Alice. Fought me way in an' outta Casinos, jumped through a mirror to another world to be with you. Even made nice with that prat Jack Heart for you. No little trifle like a baby is gonna make me change me mind, you 'ear?"

Alice found that she couldn't speak around the lump in her throat, so she simply nodded. Hatter used his thumbs to brush away a stray tear that had escaped down her cheek and then leaned in and kissed her.

When they parted some minutes later they were both smiling again. Hatter tucked a bit of hair behind her ear affectionately. "But ya know, if you're tha' worried," he said and a mischievous light had sparked in his dark eyes, "we can always give it a go. Or a couple. Now."

Laughing, Alice fell into Hatter's arms and let him cart her off to the bedroom.