A/N: Dear readers, I'm so sorry it's been so long between updates. I've written a few chapters for "Wedded Bliss" and just haven't had much inspiration for this story. But after watching the DVD yesterday (yay!), this little bunny hopped into my head. It's not as long as I normally like them to be, but I think it still has some fluffy sweetness.

But that makes me wonder, would you guys rather have shorter chapters and more frequent updates, or longer chapters with longer waits? Let me know.

Please enjoy! And please leave a review!

It was the last day of our honeymoon. A honeymoon gratefully spent away from others, given how loud we (I) got on our wedding night. A beautifully rustic cabin on the White Sea. It was a magical time.

As the sun's rays began to stream in through the window, I realized just how pinned I was under my husband's arm. He was holding me so tightly as if he were afraid I would disappear in the night. It made me curious…

"Tarrant," I whispered. "Are you awake?"

"A bit. I can be more awake if you need me to be," he replied suggestively.

"No, not that. Well, maybe later. But for now, I just want to ask you a question."

He shifted a bit and rubbed his eyes. "What's on your mind, cricket?"

"What would you have done if I had left?"

His eyes widened in what appeared to be fear. "Are you leaving?"

"Darling, of course not. But I had just wondered if you would have been all right if the jabberwocky blood would have taken me back to London."

"Not in the least."

My jaw dropped.

"Well, you asked," he said. "Alice, I am very serious when I say that I would not have functioned. I'm not sure I would have left the battlefield."

"I'm sure Mirana would have gotten you to the castle."

"Not without a fight, I would think. Watching you drink that potion alone almost broke me."

"Did I ever tell you why I did it?"

"Drank it?"

I nodded.

"No, I don't think you ever have."

"It was because I didn't think I could have rational thoughts with you standing there, giving me that puppy face. After seeing you being your gallant self in battle, and knowing your sweet personality and just looking into your sparkling green eyes … well, I couldn't think straight. I figured I would go home, realize my mistake and then hop right back down the rabbit hole. I drank it and wished to go home. But then, well, I didn't go."

"Alice, sweetness. You didn't go home because you were already home."

I smiled. "You know, I think you're right with that one." And then my smile faded. "But now that I hear this, what if I would have gone back to London and returned too late? Who knows how much time would have passed between when I left and when I returned? What if the madness would have claimed you? I wouldn't have forgiven myself! I wouldn't know—"

"Alice," he interrupted.

"Thank you. I'm fine." I laughed at that. "Seems your ramblings might be contagious!"

"Ramblings? Love, I do not ramble!"

He couldn't even hold a straight face to that. We both began laughing uncontrollably. Once we had calmed down, Tarrant's face turned serious.

"Alice, I don't want you to worry about what would have happened to me. Nothing happened because you didn't leave. You stayed at home. The madness didn't take over … at least no more than usual. I didn't sink to my knees in depression. Mirana didn't have to drag me kicking and screaming to the castle. Does that help?"

"I suppose so. I'm just so glad things worked out."

"Aye. As am I. Because since you stayed, and for some reason agreed to marry me, I now get to do such wicked things to you."

I shivered. "What kinds of wicked things?"

"Something like this…"

He growled a bit and I watched his eyes darken. No more time to worry about the past now!

After we had made love again, and taken another nap, I awoke to Tarrant playing with a strand of my hair.

"Good afternoon," I muttered.

"Good evening, actually," he said, gesturing to the window. The sun was setting.

"You must have ravaged me a little too well, Lord Hightopp, for us to sleep this long," I teased.

"My new favorite pastime."

"Even more than tea?" I asked.

"Even more than tea."

"Even more than hats?"

He pretended to think for a moment. "Yes, even more than hats."

"Good to know," I giggled.

"However, I was thinking about what you asked earlier."

"Yes?"

"What would you have done if you had returned to the Otherland?"

"I told you, I would have realized what I had done and came right back."

"And if you hadn't?"

"Hadn't what?"

"Realized what you had done. What would you have done up there?"

I didn't know how to answer. It wasn't anything I had thought of before. "Well, I suppose first and foremost, I would have told Hamish no. And then I … well, I probably would have done something with my father's company."

"And then what?"

"To be honest, I don't know. I guess sailed somewhere to do trading."

"Do you regret not going to work with your father's company?"

"No. Not really. It was just something to get me out of my boring life. I think I more or less wanted to go on adventures with the company, not necessarily do anything else. It might have been interesting, but it's nothing I regret. The company is in excellent hands with Lord Ascot. And I have all the adventures I could ever ask for right here in Underland. My very own Wonderland."

"And would you … have married?"

"Oh heavens no! I'm certain I would have gotten back up there and realized that no man would ever be what Tarrant Hightopp was to me. My first and only love. I would always be wondering just what was missing from my life."

"What if you didn't remember me?"

"Hatter, why are you asking all this?"

"To be fair, you started it, poppet."

I sighed. Fair enough.

"Even if I didn't remember you outright, I'm sure somewhere in the back of my head, I would have been thinking of you. Wondering why no one else would do for me. You essentially broke me for any other man."

"As awful as it is to say, I like that idea. I love knowing there's no one else for you. I adore being your only love."

"And what of you? Who was your first love?"

"Why you, of course. Silly girl."

"Me? But, Tarrant, you've been around much longer than I have." I tried not to dwell on that fact too often. Thank goodness Time stopped after I left and Tarrant and I were at least close in age now.

"Alice. My champion Alice. I again don't think you fully understand my life. I grew up being the outcast. It wasn't that my family didn't love me or accept me, but I was always the strange one. Always a bit on the outside. And then … well, then they were gone. All I had left was the resistance. Even if a woman would have wanted me, I wouldn't have had time for her. But it wasn't a problem since no one wanted to be near the Mad Hatter. To be honest, love, I still don't know why you want to be near me."

"How many times do I have to tell you. I love you! You are the only person in two worlds who truly understands me."

"How are you not frightened of me?"

"What? Frightened of you? Why on earth should I be? You are the gentlest creature I've ever met. You'd never hurt me, even at your most mad."

"You can't know that."

"I can and I do. So there. Now then, since we have established that we both would have been miserable without the other, let's retire this conversation. Agreed?"

"Agreed. Thank you, Alice."

"For what, Hatter?"

"Everything. All of it. Being the best thing in my life. Agreeing to marry me and spend your life with me. For making love with me. For making me realize that I'm not the Madness, but the Hatter."

"You are more than welcome, Tarrant. Anything for you, darling." I paused before making my next request, for fear that I would seem too wanton. But considering how we behaved on our honeymoon, I was sure my husband wouldn't mind. "Tarrant, would you care to show me any other wicked things we could do?"

He raised his eyebrows and grinned at me.

"Well, if the lady requests, then I shall be glad to show her the wicked, naughty, unspeakable things that I should like to do to her."

"Or perhaps what you should like her to do to you," I suggested, not wanting to be a bystander in our love making.

"Oh dearheart, I shall show you many things like that. But we won't have time for all of them here. We leave in the morning."

"I know, but we have an entire lifetime to explore those now."

"Aye, lass. A lifetime to be in love and to be naughty."

That brogue. Even if it was actually Outlandish and not Scottish, it didn't matter to me. I found it to be very exciting and loved being the one to send him into it.

A lifetime with this loving, sweet, naughty Hatter. I was a lucky lady indeed.