A/N: I'm trying to get back into the groove for this story since there isn't much feedback for the song drabble story. I dunno, I was pretty proud of a few of those. *shrug* I got the idea for this story after writing one of the drabbles in the last chapter posted (ch. 4, "My Give a Damn's Busted).

Please enjoy and please let me know what you think!

It was a week after our amazing wedding day. I couldn't believe that the day had come and gone and now we were returning to our day to day lives.

Hatter was working in the castle today and since no one would give Underland's Champion an actual task or job, I found myself wandering the beautiful corridors of Mamoreal. The tapestries were amazing and the statues were made of the most sparkling white marble I had ever seen.

Soon enough, I found myself quite lost. I had always had a pretty keen sense of direction, but I had paid very little attention to how I had gotten to where I was. I was embarrassed to admit that I didn't know how to get back and wondered which way I should go now.

I decided to take the hallway to the right (one cannot go wrong by choosing the right way, I figured) and began my journey. I glanced down at the floor and noticed some beige speckle to the patterns. I laughed to myself as I thought how much it reminded me of bread crumbs and how I should have used those.

Still looking down and following the "crumbs" on the floor, I didn't notice the figure directly in front of me and ran headlong into them.

"Oof! I'm terribly sorry!" I said, hurriedly. Then I looked up into the green eyes that gazed directly into my soul.

"It's not a problem, love. I was hoping to run into you. Though, not quite so literally," Tarrant said with a laugh.

"Oh, Tarrant, thank heavens! Where am I?"

"Why, Mamoreal, of course! Do you not remember our ride here this morning? Unless of course you mean in a bigger sense, in which case you are in Underland, but I would certainly assume that you know that as well, considering that you've lived here for over a month now and you did slay the jabberwocky for us and –"

"Tarrant…"

"I'm fine. Thank you."

I shook my head with a giggle. "What I meant, Hatter, was where am I in the castle?"

"Oh! Well, you're in a primarily unused area. There is a great deal of stuff back here. The artsy things that no one seems to use."

"Well, that's a shame! It's beautiful."

"Aye, it is. Now, I suppose my question is just what are you doing here in this underused area?"

"I don't really know," I replied. "I was admiring the beauty of the palace and I just got lost. I hate being lost."

"Yes, that is a terrible feeling. But, rest assured that all is not lost, for this mishap has brought you to me. Something told me I needed to find you and lo and behold, there you are!"

"Did I wish that hard for someone to rescue me?"

"It would appear so. Something seemed to pull me right out of the workshop and directed me to you."

"Where is your workshop?" I asked.

"Not far. Down this hallway and then a left and a right. Perhaps we should go there now. I shall make tea for us and you can tell me of your findings."

"That sounds lovely."

He offered me his arm and we began to stroll to his work room.

"And, Tarrant?"

"Yes, poppet?"

"Thank you for rescuing me."

"It was my honor. I have the feeling that you won't let me do it often. My love, you are far from the damsel in distress type."

"And proudly so. But it doesn't mean I won't always need you."

"I am glad to hear it. Ah! Here we are."

It was wonderful to see something familiar again after being so turned around beforehand. Tarrant's workshop was a place to behold and I loved watching him deftly perform at his trade there.

He began to set up the tea set as I looked around at the completed and the almost completed creations.

"These are so beautiful, darling. I especially like this blue one," I said, reaching out to touch it.

"No!" He ran over and put himself between me and the hat. "Oh dear. That one … what I mean to say is … well, I didn't want you to see … and of course that would be the one you would go to … and it's not finished and … oh bloody hell."

I couldn't help but wonder just what happened. "Tarrant?"

"I'm so sorry if I startled you, cricket. But that hat, that one in particular, was, well, still is, a very special hat."

Still confused, I'm sure my face fell a little. "Oh, I see. Probably for Mirana or someone on court."

"No, not Mirana. But yes, one of the Ladies on court."

My face probably fell even further, jealous of … I didn't even know what. "I see."

Tarrant took notice of my mood change and smiled. "Alice, silly girl, I believe you forget that you yourself are a Lady."

"Yes … and what of … it … Oh! Is it my hat?" I asked excitedly.

His smile grew as wide as it could. "Well, of course. Who else would I make such a design for?"

"What is the occasion?"

Now his face fell, but he looked embarrassed.

"Tarrant? What's wrong?"

"Well, it's a little … awkward to explain."

"Darling, there's no need to feel awkward around me."

"Yes, I suppose that is true. Well, the fact of the matter is that each time we've made love, well, I've had this urge to make you a hat. And since we were in that cabin, while lovely and beautiful and far away from prying ears, there was no where to make a hat. I knew I should have brought materials, but well, I just didn't. I wasn't thinking of hats, or tea for that matter, and that might have been the first time in a long time that neither hats nor tea had crossed my mind, so I completely blame myself for the lack of hat-making materials and I sincerely apologize –"

"Hatter!" I said, gently placing my hands on his face.

"Sorry. Thank you."

"So … I … inspired this hat?" I asked softly.

"Yes! Yes and what I figure to be others. The urge grew more than I can tell you each time we've made love. I fear that you're going to have a great deal of hats soon enough, beloved."

"Oh, I don't."

"You don't think you'll be getting many hats?"

"I don't think I fear it. I think I'm looking forward to it," I purred.

Tarrant blushed and his eyes darkened. "Aye, I am as well, poppet."

Did that man not know what his brogue did to me? I saw him take a quick glance to his work table and barely shake his head as if to scold himself. Did he have the same thoughts about that table that I did? That was something to be thought of later.

"Later, Lord Hightopp, you are all mine."

"Lady Hightopp, I have been yours since you first returned to Underland," he replied, accent fading.

"Well, that's good to know. For now, let's calm ourselves with some tea, agreed?"

"Most definitely."

He served the tea and we sat in comfortable silence until Tarrant asked the question that I knew would come up sooner than later.

"Alice, you said earlier that you left an awkward situation in London. I know you didn't want to talk about it on our honeymoon, but now that we are back, would you care to talk about it now? if you don't I understand but I'll admit that I'm still concerned."

"No, there's nothing to be concerned about. I'm sure things have worked themselves out to some end up there now. However, I do feel that the conversation might be a bit … uncomfortable for you."

"Uncomfortable? Oh dear."

"No, it certainly has a happy ending! It brings me to you."

He looked unconvinced.

"All right. Here goes. The day that I returned to Underland, I did it quite accidentally. I was at a party and Nivens found me and I inadvertently fell down the hole."

"Yes, love, all of this I already know."

"Well, what you don't know is what kind of party it was."

His eyebrow quirked.

"It was … myengagementparty," I hurriedly said.

"Love, it sounded like you said engagement party, which of course is silly since you had one of those here, after I asked you to marry me."

His tone started to sound a bit angry, so I continued quickly.

"Yes, and I must say that that engagement party was much nicer and I had a wonderful time. But this one, well, it was certainly a surprise to me. What happened was, my mother dragged me to the home of the Ascots. I knew I didn't want to go, no one really likes me. I'm too much like my father. But she forced me anyway. I couldn't figure out why I needed to be there. Well, it wasn't until the Chattaway sisters spilled the beans that the party was in honor of my engagement to Hamish that I knew what was happening. It was all very secretly done, because they knew otherwise that I would never have gone along with it," I babbled as quickly as Tarrant normally did.

"So … this other man … 'e proposed teh yeh?"

I knew the accent certainly wasn't from passion this time, so I had to handle this delicately.

"He did. But Tarrant, here's what you must know. I would never have said yes. I knew everyone wanted me to, but rather than say no in front of all of them, I ran away. I saw McTwisp and took off after him. I could never be married to anyone besides you."

"But, lass, why dinnae you tell meh sooner? Why were yeh hidin' it?"

"I wasn't! Tarrant, I completely forgot about him. It was so strange the night I remembered. I hadn't thought of him once until I thought about how lucky I was to have you instead of him." I paused and looked into his rapidly changing eyes. They were more yellow than orange, but I still proceeded with caution. "You're angry."

"Nae. Not angry. I cannae tell yeh that I'm happy tha' another man proposed teh yeh. But I'm just takin' it all in. I sometimes forget that yeh had another life afore me."

"I wouldn't call it a life, Hatter. I'd call it an existence. I just existed before you. Now, now I live. It would have been even less than existing with Hamish and that's why I ran away. I could never be in that situation, no matter what my family wanted."

Tarrant shook his head, trying to clear some of the cross voices, I'm sure. His eyes began to turn back to green, but I much more dull version. He looked at me and gave me the smallest of grins.

"Hamish, eh?"

"Yes…"

"What a stupid name."

I smiled just a bit. "Yes, it really is."

"So yeh dinnae love 'im?"

"Not in the least. I could barely stand to be in his presence."

This seemed to placate my silly husband.

"I s'pose I owe 'im then."

I arched an eyebrow. "Hamish? What on earth would you owe him for?"

"Fer makin' yeh run away. If not, yeh'd 'ave ne'er fallen down th' rabbit hole, would yeh?"

"I suppose that's very true."

"Aye. Oh well, too bad 'e'll ne'er hear my thanks."

"He doesn't deserve them anyway. … So, are you feeling better about it now?"

"Aye, I think so. It came as quite a shock, though, it's good to know. Thank yeh for tellin' me."

"You're more than welcome. Now, shall we have our tea?"

His eyes brightened and his adorable lisp returned. "Anything for my Alice."

I giggled and shook my head as he began to prepare the teas. I was glad to have cleared that part of my past and make way for the future. My crazy, mad, wonderful future.