Hello there! I'd like to welcome you to my first ever Alice in Wonderland Fanfiction! Writing a story for these two is long over-due I'm afraid, so I hope you enjoy my story. As I said it will be updated weekly, but if I get ten reviews on this chapter I will update tomorrow as well as Saturday. Sound good? Of course here is the obligatory disclaimer. I do not own Alice in Wonderland, that right goes to Lewis Carrol, and I do not own Alice in Wonderland the film, that right goes to Tim Burton. If I owned the rights to the film, Alice would have stayed with the Hatter and they would have had a hot and steamy make out scene at the end of the movie... Now that that's cleared up... Please Enjoy, Read and REVIEW!

After returning from her trip to Underland, Alice had become a very prominent and wealthy business woman. As an apprentice to the company in which her father had built, she had done well for herself. She now owned her own home, a fair sized cottage not far from her mother's residence, and had almost everything she could have possibly ever wanted in life. Her wealth had given her every material thing she could have ever wanted as well as trips to far away exotic lands. She had gone to countries such as China, France, Russia, and even remote colonies with Lord Ascot and his company, and had seen things she had never before seen. It was all quite thrilling to her, and left her with much to do.

Unfortunately now, six years had passed since her reemergence from the rabbit hole, and she had been feeling for quite a while now that something was missing in her life. She knew what it was that she was missing, but of course would never admit it to anyone… she was lonely. Her mother had been trying to marry her off since she was nineteen, and her sister's reminders that her pretty face wouldn't last forever had plagued her thoughts for the last few years. She was now Five-and-Twenty, and knew that most men would never marry a woman a day over Twenty-One. This fact was both sobering and heartening to her. On one hand, she didn't want to end up like Aunt Imogene… old, alone, and completely delusional, but on the other hand, she didn't want to be thrown into a loveless marriage… If that happened she would surely be depressed, lonely, and absolutely insane.

Every time a suitor took interest in her, Alice always tried to keep her manners and be kind, but for some reason she couldn't help but slight them somehow. She didn't consciously try to do it, but the fact that she found little to nothing she liked in any of these men caused her to react to them in a not-so-courteous manner. Sometimes she didn't know what was wrong with her. Logically she knew that getting married was important, but her heart and emotions told her otherwise. She had always known that she wasn't meant for the men that sought after her… she knew that neither her nor they would ever find happiness in their union… no, she needed someone who would understand her and the way her mind worked, and they needed mindless women to do their bidding. She hadn't truly noticed it before now, but at the moment she was thinking clearly… she couldn't love the men that sought her because she loved another.

Deep in her heart she had known this since the moment she left Underland and returned to the orderly world of the Upperland. She couldn't love because she already did love. Her true love was Underland, its chaos, its sights, and perhaps most importantly its people and beings.

She still dreamed of it at night… sometimes she would just be there, talking to her friends and enjoying life, and other times her journey began down the rabbit hole. She had dreamed a million times of returning there and having her friends greet her with open arms… they had accepted her in her dreams the same way they always had since her childhood, with smiles, kind words, and riddles. She missed them all, but the one she missed most, she feared, was the reason why she could never get married… She missed the Hatter.

She had never missed someone so much in her life the way she had missed him… his alabaster skin, mood adjusting eyes, and thick brogue accent… she had noticed all those things about him when she was nineteen, and had been, of course, attracted to him, but now that she was older, she found herself falling in love… She laughed at the thought as she sat alone at her kitchen table with a cup of tea in her hand, "In love with a mad man who I haven't seen in six years…"

Still, she could not help herself but to think about him. She had always wondered what his bright orange hair would feel like between her fingers, and how soft his lips would feel against hers. She knew the thoughts were impossible, but she was always the type to think of the impossible. It was a trait she had earned from her father… she also believed he was the source of her borderline madness, and her muchness.

She sipped her tea calmly and quietly, but her mind was the opposite of her outward appearance… her mind raced with the thoughts of returning to Underland. She so badly wanted to return, but was unable to think of a way to find her way there. She supposed she could just search endlessly in the woods for a rabbit hole and hope that she found the correct one… but it seemed like a highly unlikely plan with a extremely low success rate. The business mind in her told her it was impossible and would never work, but the dreamer in her told her that she would eventually find a way to return to her friends.

After noticing how late it had gotten, Alice stood up from her empty table and went to her equally as lonely bedroom. There she lay down and fell asleep… into her dreams of the pure insanity and chaos that she loved so much.

She was in her bedroom, which she supposed was a curious place to dream about. She wondered why one would dream about the place in which they were sleeping, which led her to wonder if she was actually truly sleeping at all. There was the loud ticking of clocks all around her, and when she looked around to see where it was coming from, she saw herself sleeping in bed. "Curiouser and curiouser", she said as she walked away from her sleeping self. She was curious as to where exactly she was, she knew it wasn't Underland, but it wasn't her home either. The only thing that looked remotely familiar to her was a door… it was one that had always been locked when she found herself at the entrance of Underland, but now in a world of darkness it seemed like the only place to go. She took a deep breath and hoped that the door wasn't locked.

Luckily for her it wasn't, and she opened the door to reveal a beautiful rose garden. There were roses of all colors and the air was perfumed with the light smell of roses. She couldn't help herself but to pick one as she walked in through the door. She knew she had something to do here, but she was unsure what it was… she had never had this dream before.

She walked down the cobblestone path of the Garden until she was greeted with a familiar sight. A too large top hat and lace cuffs greeted her along with a bright smile and a pair of gleaming green eyes.

"Hatter!" She shouted as she ran towards him. She had missed him so, and even if it was only a dream, she couldn't pass up the chance to see him… even if only for a few moments. She made her way to him as fast as he feet could carry her, and was almost to him when she tripped.

Luckily, he was at an arm's reach and caught her up in his arms before she could fall down. "Alice!" He shouted as he caught her and wrapped her up in his arms, "You remembered me! How I've missed you!" And missed her he had… since her departure from Underland, he had been terribly lonely. He had recently spent his time doing little other than hatting and thinking about her. After a few moments he loosened his grip on her and began to speak of the business that had brought him here. "Alice you must return to us!" He said imploringly, trying to use what was left of his limited time wisely.

She knew it was just a dream, but she couldn't help but feel the need to speak to him as if he were real. "Oh Hatter, I want to come back to all of you… But…"

"But…" He said cutting her off, "You won't…" He knew that either she wouldn't remember him at all, or she would remember but not return. Even thinking this, he had still gone… still taken the chance that maybe, just maybe, she would want to return to him. He frowned and turned away from her. He tried to understand her decision, but the madness within him rose to the top and blocked what little rationality he had. He tried to make what he was saying coherent and calm, but he couldn't help but speak quickly and angrily in his thick accent, "You don't want to return do you Alice… you don't truly miss the madness… you don't want it! Why would you in your perfectly rational world, with your rules and tea without rabbits. Don't lie and say you miss it to make me happy, just do wha…"

"Hatter! Please!" She shouted trying to calm him down. She always feared what would happen if he completely lost his grip on his mind, so when he got like this, she would do anything to calm him. She walked over and touched his arm, but he quickly threw her off.

"Don't call me that!" He growled at her, further losing his temper and sanity, "A Hatter is an occupation Alice… I am not a job to be done! I am a man Alice, a man! Tarrant! Tarrant Hightopp!"

She could barely believe how mad he had gotten in just a few moments time; he had gone from calmly speaking to screaming in only a few moments time. She knew she needed to stop him, but was unsure of how to do it. Using his real name seemed to be a good start. "Tarrant! Please stop!" She pleaded feeling as though she were about to cry. His name felt odd on her tongue, she had never called him anything but Hatter before, and now regretted never asking him his true name. Despite their current circumstances she liked his name. Tarrant… it sounded lovely, and it suited him well. She thought it odd that she would be able to think up such an odd and fitting name herself being that this was just a dream.

He calmed slightly as he heard her say his name. No one ever called him Tarrant, except his fellow members of the mad tea party and the White queen on occasion, so he was unsure of why he insisted she use it. He had never had a problem with her calling him Hatter before, but now that she had said it, he wanted to hear her say it a million times. There was just something about the fact that his name, his true and given name, had come out of her lips… it comforted him.

"Tarrant… please, I want to go back to Wonderla…Underland with you!" What she said was true; she truly did want to return with him. She missed him, and even though he was acting like this, she still missed him terribly. More than anything she wanted to return there with him, to see her friends and live the life she would never receive in the Upperland.

He exhaled quickly, finally allowing himself to be reassured by her words. She wanted to return… she had even slipped up and almost called it Wonderland. He remembered her calling it as such when she was a child; it had annoyed the White Rabbit Nivens McTwisp and Absolem, but he had always found it rather endearing. That was all it took for his small amount of sanity to return to him. "Alice!" He said trying his hardest to focus, "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"

She noticed that he had calmed himself, and sighed in relief. She knew that it was unnecessary to answer his question, and instead decided to finish their previous conversation. "I want to go back, but I can't find the rabbit hole." She said quickly, hoping he would understand.

"Is that all Alice?" He asked curiously, he had actually come to her in order to tell her how to return. He wished he wouldn't have gotten so upset just a few moments ago, because if he hadn't, he may have had a few extra moments to just speak with her about whatever he wished. "Follow Absolem."

"Absolem?" She asked, curious as to how Absolem would help her rediscover the rabbit hole.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten him." Tarrant said raising one caterpillar like orange eyebrow.

"No, of course I remember Absolem…" She said calmly, "I was just curious as to how he'll help me find the entrance to Underland…"She hadn't truly seen the blue caterpillar since before the Frabjous day on which she slew the jabberwocky, but she believed she had seen him once before her ship departed London for her adventures in China. Since then, she hadn't even seen a blue butterfly…

"Follow Absolem Alice." He said without further explanation and looked behind himself. "We haven't much time."

"Much time for what? This is a dream… it isn't real… we have all the time we want." She was confused, why wouldn't they have much time? Was she about to wake up? She didn't want to wake up. Even if this was all just a dream, she wanted more time with the Hatter…

"I wish I had time to explain Alice…" He said with a rueful grin. "It is a dream, but I assure you it's very real…"He felt himself begin to fade out and away from her. His last words were, " Fairfarren Alice… Follow Absolem!"

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Remember that ten reviews gets you two chapters this week! ^_^ Fairfarren for now!