"It's…pretty."

Hatter cocked an eyebrow at Alice, frowning slightly at her reflection in the mirror.

"Pretty? Not exactly what I was goin' for, love."

Striding up behind him, Alice stood on her tiptoes and rested her chin on his shoulder, her arms coming up to circle his waist.

"Okay, fine. It's not pretty, it's horrible. Definitely the most hideous thing I've ever seen."

"Now you're just being unhelpful and cheeky."

Blowing a stray feather out of the way and off of his forehead, Hatter readjusted his new feathered hat so that it tilted to the right. It didn't make it anymore attractive.

How had he come to this? To wearing faux feather hats that made his scalp itch and made people on the street do a double-take (not in the good way either, he had learned)?

The answer was as clear as the picture in the mirror in front of him.

Alice. He would do anything for his Alice.

If she liked her men to wear hats then he damn well was going to find and wear the most eye-catching hat in the Old World, even if it did make him look like a complete dunce. And if that didn't prove just how much he loved her, well then he had no idea what would.

"It's not that bad," Alice said softly, turning Hatter away from his image to face her. "You can make anything look charmingly handsome anyway."

"My Alice," Hatter grinned, pulling her flush against his body and reveling in her startled yelp of surprise. "Flattery will get you everywhere."

Sealing his lips over hers, Hatter tightened his hold on Alice, lightly dancing his fingers over the patch of exposed skin between her shirt and jeans. Her hands, always delicate and soft with him, never the weapons he witnessed her use on the suits, found their way to the back of his neck. He suppressed a groan when her fingers began to gently scratch.

Lost in his Alice, something that seemed to happen far too often and was never in his control, he was surprised when he felt her smile against his busy lips. Mistaking her smile as one of pure pleasure, he continued his memorization of her lips, ignoring the slight shaking of her body against his.

Bringing her hands around to rest on his chest Alice lightly pushed against him. The sound Hatter made as they parted could only be described as a mix between a whimper and moan.

"I'm sorry," Alice laughed, batting away a few stray feathers that dangled in front of her. "Your hat was tickling my face."

"Your mirth is lost on me," Hatter grumbled.

Alice simply shrugged her shoulders, a slight smile still gracing her features, and removed the ugly feathered hat from his head. Placing it on her head she unwound herself from Hatter, suppressing another laugh at his groan of protest, and practically skipped the foot and a half to the mirror.

She stretched her arm up the full-length mirror's frame, the rest of her body pressing against it lightly. Placing her other hand on her hip, she popped it out in what she hoped was a seductive manner.

Deepening her voice to make it sound sultry, like in all of those old Hollywood movies she had watched with her mother as child, Alice questioned, "Well Mr. Hatter, how does the hat look?"

Hatter made no attempt to conceal the way his eyes drank in her body. He just hoped she hadn't seen the slight shiver course through him at the tone of her voice.

"From my vantage point Ms. Hamilton," Hatter began, stalking towards her.

He paused in front of her, brown eyes locking on blue, and leaned in so that their noses brushed against each others. His thumb caressed her cheek as he finished his thought.

"It still looks like an ugly hat."

Alice's eyes flew open (when had she closed them?) and her mouth formed a surprised 'O.' She gasped as Hatter tore the hat from her head and tossed it behind him, onto one of the bedposts, without turning around to look.

Running his fingers through her hair, Hatter smirked as he leaned in to whisper in her ear, "No need to be cheeky, love. That's my job."

A quick smile was shared between the two before Hatter closed the distance between them, all thoughts of ugly hats forgotten by the pair for the moment.