Alice awoke and heard her Hatter snoring contently at her side. She turned on the bed, taking in her surroundings as she came to wakefulness. This was scene she had awoken to every morning for the past week, and it still did not ring familiar to her yet. To be laying abed in no clothing, with the sheets wrapped about her and Tarrant Hightopp's body tucked in sharply right behind her.

He was still sleeping, lost in his dream world as she rolled over to behold him in the pale morning light. His eyes were shut lightly, their familiar colors less vibrant as he rested. His wild eyebrows arched above his closed eyes as he smiled in his dream, his small gat toothed grin peering out from beneath parted red lips. One of his arms cradled the side of his head, his cheek pressing into his palm. The other bent lazily over his side, the hand resting on the sheet between he and Alice. His pale chest rose and fell evenly as he continued to sleep.

She dared to reach out and touch his still form, still not used to the idea that she could reach out to caress him whenever she desired to. She first touched his long pale cheek, her thumb running along the sharp line of his cheek bone as she rested the fatty palm of her hand against his jawline. Her green eyes took in the curve of his mouth and chin, the shape of his sharp bone structure that made him so very clearly her Tarrant. Next, she ran her fingers through his wild red hair, brushing away small knots which tugged at her comb like fingers stubbornly. His hair was coarse to the touch, easily reconstructing itself where she pulled it. She wondered when she and Hatter were to have children whether they would have her blonde waves or his wild red curls? She hoped that they would have a mix of the two, and that several children would prove several different results.

She longed to shut her eyes to the morning and to curl up against his body. She pressed herself against his cool skin, her breasts pressing into the muscle of his chest as she cuddled up closed to him. She placed her head on his shoulder, her face gently fitting into the curve of his neck. She placed a kiss in the crevice, one so gentle and light that she hoped it would not stir him.

How she wished she had not awoken up to the day it was. The days behind them had accumulated into one a short week, Time racing along at an unfair speed. They had not been as productive as she had hoped they might have been in their Time allotted alone. She was hoping that the two of them could pick the members of their scouting mission, come up with a plan to remove the threat of the Red Queen. Every time she had begun to think about a solution to their royal problem, Tarrant knew where to place an errant kiss; whether it was on the soft skin behind her ear or the valley between her shoulder blades or the curve of the small of her back. Once he had placed one between her legs and she was most shocked, and aroused, by the sensation.

She did not want to think that she had, because it was certainly something never discussed in her social circles back home, but most of this week was not about planning for their life together. The week was spent in understanding their bodies together, most of the hours filled with things that were unspeakable by a lady. But oh, the things he was learning to do to her body to make her wriggle in joy and cry out in pleasure. She was glad she was not in a land where she was told to lie back and think of her monarch; it would have been too hard when she had such ecstasy coursing through her body because of his touches and kisses. If Underland was a place she could express herself freely, she was glad it included even the groans and grunts and gyrations atop a mattress.

Perhaps she could take advantage of such liberties once last Time, before the two of them were fully bound to serve the King and Queen in a full emancipation from a far from extinguished threat. Alice smiled as she pressed her face more deeply into the curve of his neck, kissing the soft skin a little harder. She added a slight nibble for good measure.

She would need to hurry; no doubt the queen would be coming in soon enough to fill them in on the battle against the Red Queen. And it would be rather embarrassing if Mirana entered (or worse, Gavin) as she was sitting atop Tarrant's lap, her head tilted toward the sky.

Tarrant did not stir in his sleep, however, and Alice let out a dissatisfied groan. He would not awake with enough energy, what having spent it all last night, anyways, so it would be useless to try to fit a last minute tryst in where it would certainly be spoiled. Alice sat up, her blonde hair spilling over her shoulders as she drew herself to further wakefulness. She winced slightly as she moved to the corner of the bed, her muscles sore from movements she was still learning and her body not quite used to an intrusion and vigor she had been introduced to only a week prior.

With the thoughts of sleep, Alice also pushed from her the thoughts of safety. It was Time now to fully pick up the mantle as Champion; she would face Iracebeth at some point or another just as she had promised Mirana she would. This Time in Underland, Alice was ready to take the old tyrant on. With Tarrant again at her side and with further motivation to keep her safe, she knew there was little that would stop her on her quest to rid Marmoreal, and by extension, Underland, of her enemies.

Alice continued to push herself from the mattress; she gently arose from the bed, crossing the small distance between the poster bed and the window to look out the panes to the sunrise. The awakening sun was just creeping over the distant mountains bringing with it the splendid colors of royal purple and crimson and salmon pink and orange. Though she certainly preferred the sunsets, Alice could not help but acknowledge that even the dawns had their beauty. She pressed her hands against the glass of the windows, her forehead soon following, and she shivered as the cool material pressed against her warm skin.

What it would be like to lock the doors to the world outside them? She entertained the idea once more, her forehead pressing into the window. Surely there were other people that could do battle for Mirana? Surely the oppressed could have their revenge on the bloody red queen? But that would do little good for Alice, as she had promised the White Queen that she would be her Champion once again.

But promising she would be could not keep her from wishing she could live in this careful place, this moment in Time, where it was just she and Tarrant, clothing optional. Where gasps of pleasure and encouragement filled the nights, and laughter and conversation along with the songs of clinking porcelain at tea parties filled the afternoon. This was a slice of nirvana that even her paradise could not provide for her every moment of every day.

Alice opened her eyes once more to look down at the scenery below her, the gardens of Marmoreal far to the east. She was surprised to not see the beautiful manicured gardens of Marmoreal that she had come to love in her weeks of dwelling here, but instead unkempt rosebushes and overgrown shrubbery. True, she and Tarrant had not gone out in their week together, locking themselves away for the precious Time they were allotted to revel in one another, but she was not expecting Marmoreal to have fallen into its version of ruin in the days she did not stand guard.

Upon further inspection, she noticed that it was not just the greens that had fallen out of sorts, but that many of the helping hands were not as cheery and light as she had seen them to be. She watched as several of the servants stood around, clearly angry with one another as their hands pointed aggressively toward one person and then the next. Alice could almost swear they were shouting. They cared very little about the upkeep of the castle and were very clearly focused on the wrongs that were served them.

Alice sighed as she watched the unhappy workers below, knowing that it certainly wasn't entirely their faults. Like the dog days of summer, all the tension that Iracebeth was bringing to the people of Underland was beginning to show in their strained faces. It was no wonder why they were bickering and fighting amongst themselves. Negativity was like a poison, and if one was not careful, it acted like quick sand, pulling everyone in its wake and smothering them with its wrath.

Alice's head hung as she knew more than ever that it was Time for her to return to work as the Champion of Underland. Her mind was cleared of the stresses of getting married; she no longer had an event that she needed to keep in mind when she went off to explore Salazen Grum. Her Time of worrying for herself was now passed; it was Time she worried about others. And the first other she knew she had to worry about was the man who slept in the bed behind her. She pulled her forehead away from the window and glanced at her ring laden hand now; a forever reminder that she had promised to care for someone else over herself. It was high Time she made good on that promise as well.

Warmth pressed itself slowly against her bareback, starting at the base of her buttocks until her entire shoulders were incased in the body heat of another. Rough hands made their scratching way along her body, up her arms and over her shoulders, down over her chest until they stopped on her breasts where they pressed against her mounds and pushed her against the heat behind her. A kiss was planted on the back of her neck, wet and hot against her tingling skin, and she knew Tarrant just wanted her to lie back on the bed, to step away from the window and relish her in his last minute. He would kiss her slowly, hungrily, aggressively, his hands searching for homes as he did his best to hold every part of her body again. She shivered against his warm skin, feeling his head press more deeply into her neck. His sideways kisses grazed up the side of her jaw until he could reach no further.

"Good morning, fair one." His voice was rough from disuse in his sleep. Alice smiled as she melted back into his body, pressing her head back against him. She placed her hands on his as they still clutched her bosom tenderly, kneading her breasts softly.

"Tarrant, you know what today is, don't you?" She spoked, pushing his hands away. Alice turned to him, causing his hands to drop to wrap his arms around her waist. She leaned back into the embrace once more, placing strain on his arms. He looked down at her with glowing green eyes before he leaned forward to kiss her squarely on the month.

"Another day I get to spend with me wife." He answered, not allowing her a moment to answer before he kissed her again. Alice laughed merrily as she playfully pushed him away, a half attempt at getting him to wake to reality and leave behind soft murmurs, loud groans, and the land of pleasure and sleep, when suddenly a knock came on the door sobering him quickly.

"It's day number eight," Alice said under his groan of frustration.

Kissing her one more time, he left her by the window as he went to the giant wardrobe in the corner. He quickly pulled out a pair of knickers and trousers. Shivering against the light breeze that made its way through the room, Alice quickly crossed the room to join him; he handed her a lady's pair of knickers and a lovely blue dress.

She took the garments in hand, making her way to the privacy screen in the corner of the room, grabbing her long discarded petticoat from the floor as she passed. When she had ducked behind the screen, she dressed as quickly as she was able to without getting herself twisted in the fabrics. On the other side of the screen Tarrant had put on his undergarments and trousers, and was working on buttoning up his shirt as he went to answer the door.

"McTwisp," The Hatter exclaimed, stepping aside as he finished button his cuffs to allow the rabbit in. Alice stepped from behind the screen, smoothing the skirt of her dress before pinning back the top half of her hair. She retrieved Tarrant's brown and black striped waist coat from where it was folded neatly on a chair, handing it to him as she approached the rabbit and her husband.

McTwisp looked to be wincing as if he had narrowly avoided seeing something he very much wished he would not wish to see. "The King and Queen request your presence in the throne room before lunch." The rabbit said with an uncomfortable sniff. Tarrant looked to Alice briefly, before he turned back at the rabbit.

"Alright, McTwisp, please tell the monarch we will be there." Alice nodded her head. The rabbit twitched his nose nervously, but bounded toward the door all the same

"I hope you week was enough," McTwisp offered.

"It never would be, not enough Time would be able to satisfy my Alice sized thirst," Tarrant replied as he watched Alice lead the rabbit to the door.

He paused at the entrance, his beady eyes looking from the wife to the husband and then back again. "It will be good to have your presence back in the castle; so much is going wrong and the Red Queen has yet to even show her face."

"That is what I've feared," Alice sighed. "Thank you, McTwisp, we will be down shortly." The rabbit paused as if to say something more, but then shook his head, bounding out the door.

Alice shut it after she saw him bounding down the hall, turning to Tarrant. "It is Time to gird our loins, my dear husband," she sauntered across the room to join him where he stood. "Let the war begin." She declared with a wry grimace, stepping backwards and allowing herself to collapse onto the bed. Tarrant came and lay next to her, kissing her neck.

"Don't be so certain, perhaps they decided to give us another week," Tarrant tried to encourage her with a smile. He gripped her hand in his, squeezing her fingers tightly.

"Somehow I think it's more about our trip to Salazen Grum than it has to do with further congratulating us for our nuptials." Alice sat up to curl her knees before her, placing her arm on her kneecaps and her head on her arm.

"If it's war you're looking for, my fair one, I can assure you I will be by your side the entire fight." He let go of her hand to run his hand along her back.

She peeped over at him from between the space of her waist and her elbow, a frown crossing her face. "That's where you got the scars that run along your back, isn't it?" She had seen them the night of their wedding, when he had turned away from her to fetch her some water. Long angry scars which stretched from his shoulder to his hip, short deep scars that littered his shoulder blades, small indentations along the lines of his shoulders, all of them telling a story of pain and fortitude.

"What are you talking about, fair one?" Tarrant replied absently, turning his head away from her.

"The scars, all down your back," she let her arms and legs down, leaning on her hip as she looked over at him with a dubious grimace. "I saw them all this past week, when you did not think I was looking. You have them as angry and red on your back as I have the Bandersnatch scare on my arm. You got them from Stayne, didn't you?"

"Oh, they were nothing but some scratches from the goon, nothing serious, truly." He turned back to her, pulling her down to lay on the bed, wrapping his arms around her as the two lay in silence. Alice looked at him again, determined not to let this go.

"Those are not something I would call nothing, my mad man." Alice insisted.

"Alice, those are long forgotten in my memory." Tarrant let forth an exasperated sigh, pushing her from his arms so that he could stand before the bed. She watched from her supine position as he went to fetch his outer coat from a coat hanger near the door. "The war was won, so the pains I suffered to get there are not things I constantly keep tally of. They are my efforts toward the defeat of the Jabberwocky."

"They wanted to know where you put me, after you threw the hat across the pond." Alice continued, piecing together what exactly had happened in between his capture and her rescue.

Tarrant shook his head as he went to fetch his hat which lay upon the bureau. "Alice, please, we don't need to talk about this."

"Can you just tell me where you got them then? Let's be honest with one another." She sat up abruptly, her fists in determined balls . Tarrant turned on her, his hat firmly on his head as his eyes flashed a warning orange in her direction.

She could tell when he began, his Outlandish burr thick and growling, that she had gotten him good and angry. "Fine, yeh want 'onesty? I got 'em frehm tha' Stayne an' it was because they wan'ed teh know where yeh were off tah, Alice. Yeh were the on'y chance Underlan' 'ad and I cudnnae let 'em find yeh. I woul' ne'er 'ave lived with mehself if they 'ad." He blinked rapidly, turning away from her and rubbing his face vigorously.

Alice immediately felt guilty, falling silent as she realized the repercussions of her coaxing. She shouldn't have pushed for the answer, taking his cursory response for her current response, but her curiosity always did get the best of her.

At the same moment, her heart absolutely broke. It was true, what she had so feared over the weekend when he turned away from her. Poor Tarrant, his back looked like rail road tracks, the way the scars had settled deep and angry red. She could hardly believe that he had done this all for her, without any more motivation than believing that she was the right Alice. She was the Alice that he knew he was as soon as she had arrived at his wonderful tea party. What a crazy, mad, wonderful man who would risk everything for her. Alice could not help return his glare with a smile and warm tears in her eyes.

"Wha' are yeh smilin' at?" He demanded, still angry with her.

Alice jumped from the bed, sprinting the short distance between the two before she jumped up towards him. She knocked him over as she flew into his arms, wrapping one arm about the back of her head while the other rested on his shoulder, her face pressing into his as she kissed him fervently. He kissed her back, fighting for balance in the first few moments, returning with as much passion and heat as she offered when he had steadied himself.

The kiss ended as quickly as it had begun, and when she pulled away from him to look down, his eyes reopened to show that they had changed from the yellow of anger to the green of bliss.

"You shouldn't do that to a fellow, you might make his heart stop." He answered coyly with his trademark grin as he let her to the ground once more. Alice laughed at him, reaching up to touch his cheek tenderly.

"I didn't want to see you angry, my Mad Hatter." She spoke gently, swallowing back tears at the idea of a separation between them so close to their union. "It's because of you that I am even alive. You went through all of that horror while I was in that very same castle on my masquerade."

"I almost couldn't believe my eyes when I saw you, giant then of course no more the wee girl, sitting in the Queen's throne room." His green eyes looked to the ceiling as he recalled the girl Um sitting in the Red Queen's throne room, flirting with danger. "I simply had to distract her so she wouldn't realize it was you, Alice. It was a very silly thing to do."

Alice indignantly wrinkled her nose, crossing her hands over her chest. "Like I kept telling you! I wasn't going to leave that castle without you. Regrettably I had to do that in the end anyways." She conceded with a pout.

"Oh please Alice, you make protecting you very difficult, have I ever told you that?"

"No, no I don't believe you ever have." She reached out to take his hand in hers.

He thumbed the fold between her thumb and her fingers gently. "You always seem to walk right into the traps, my dear silly wife. I shall have to keep a close eye on you now."

"Shall we go down to the kitchen and see what the cook is preparing for breakfast? We can sneak a little bit in before the clock spins around much faster and leaves us at the mercy of the monarchs for lunch." Alice pulled her Hatter towards the door.

He grinned at her saucily, his eyes waggling as he looked her over. "I would much rather have you for breakfast, but since we've already dressed and we don't have too much time and we'll be late getting our lunch if we do not awake to the world soon, I don't see why not." He pulled her closer; she tripped back into his arms as he playfully gathered Alice into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and laughed.

"You don't have to carry me, beloved." She whispered to him.

"Oh, but you want to know a secret…" He winked at her as he lisped gently. Alice's smile grew wider and she leaned into him.

"Of course I would love to know. In fact I am dying to." Alice answered, leaning her ear close to his red mouth. She loved teasing him this way, so much the more since he knew he could get much closer to her.

"I want to." He answered. Alice couldn't contain her laugh. So, her battle lost, she stayed in her Hatter's arms as he brought her down to the kitchens.

A/N: A lot of reviewers have requested that it's time for me to revisit my naughtier side, and I've also had a lot of requests for a honeymoon scene...so be sure to keep an eye on the tags/my profile for a one shot regarding that!

Thank you so much for all your kind words and appreciation. If you have time, leave a review if you can! It's always appreciated!

Lydia