Found in the Enchanted Forest.

Alice'd been living in the Enchanted Forest for a month now and found that she missed her Hatter terribly. Traveling through his hat with him and seeing the strange new worlds had been so remarkable. Having the Hatter explain to her what each of the worlds was like and the rules only made it that much better. She missed his snarky comments, the way that he sometimes got tired of asking her questions though he always expected them, she missed the way he'd toss his hat into the air after a trip and how it would land perfectly on his head.

And she missed his tea.

It was true that it had been their decision for her to stop portal jumping with him. After the fiasco in Neverland, the Hatter would turn every job away. She'd known after the first job he turned down that it had been because of her. And then the Evil Queen had come to rid herself of Alice and had told her her choices; leave the Hatter or be his death. So she told her Hatter that she was going to find her own way, move into an abandoned cottage outside of the village…

But that didn't keep her from missing the life she'd had with him.

Regardless, she'd made her decision and was no living with it. Now she sat in her small cottage, covered in head to toe in flour after baking bread, cakes and pies. It was something she enjoyed doing more than the sewing that she actually needed to do that was lying on the trunk at the base of her bed. She would sell the treats at the market, sometimes hands out some of the small cakes to the friends she had in town or to the children. But she always kept one small cake for herself to have with her tea.

Probably one of the silliest things about missing the Hatter was how much she missed his tea.

The knock that sounded on her door surprised her, bringing her to her feet with a dagger that she shoved up her sleeve as she stepped towards the door. She'd learned quickly that no matter what world that you found yourself in, every place was dangerous and one could never be too careful.

"Alice?"

She froze with her hand on the doorknob, too shocked to move when she heard his voice. It took her a full fifteen second before she could get the door open. By then her Hatter was walking away from her house down the path towards the village with slouched shoulders.

"Hatter!"

She was running for him, tossing the dagger away as she did. He barely turned in time to catch her and keep them from falling over into the dirt. She hugged him close to her, pressing her face into the scarf around his neck, taking in a deep breath of him. Leather and magic. He in turn wrapped his arms around her waist, his hold on her tight.

"Finally," he breathed as if in relief.

"You have no idea how much I've missed you," she told him, not daring to let him go until he forced her to.

And he didn't. "I've missed you,"

She felt him turn his head before she found herself caught up in a kiss. She clutched him tighter in surprise but kissed him back without restraint. Traveling with her Hatter had taught her quite a few things but it had also forced her to let go of a few of her old conventions and behaviors. She knew that sometimes politeness and etiquette if you wanted to survive.

Or get what you wanted.

He pulled away from her slowly, his hot breath blowing in her face the same way she was huffing into his. But they were both smiling despite the lack of oxygen.

"You taste like tea," he commented to her.

"Bad tea,"

"I wouldn't say that,"

"You've ruined me for any other tea," she told him matter-of-factly. "That was rude of you,"

"My apologies, Just Alice,"

She snorted at him, touching her nose to cheek. "Silly, Hatter,"

"My name is Jefferson,"

Alice smiled, kissing his cheek. "I know,"