Title: Fleeting Caress
Author: Anisky
Summary: He comes to her sometimes. They guard their hearts too well, yet not at all.
Rating: This chapter, G. Eventually, though, I expect it to be R.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of it!

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Chapter 1

The first time he came to her was three months after she ran his Labyrinth.

Sarah had been reading a book by the pond when she'd fallen asleep. The sun was already starting to set by the time she'd woken again. She awoke with a shiver; summer was slowly fading and a subtle bite of chill had begun to permeate the evening air.

Through her sleepy haze, Sarah registered a hand gently stroking her hair, and that whatever she was resting her head on was much more comfortable than the grass. And it was warm… it was a leg.

All at once she was entirely awake.

She twisted around while at the same time trying to sit up. She was only halfway there when she'd turned enough to see the face of the man who was touching her so tenderly.

"Goblin King!" she said, too shocked to move from her uncomfortable position.

"Sarah," he replied, inclining his head slightly.

Jareth chuckled as he saw her jaw drop; she still seemed frozen in place. Seeing the goose bumps forming on her arms, he gathered her up into his lap. He cradled her there, like he might a child, one arm gently supporting her back. She could look at his face, now, without twisting herself around.

"You're cold," he said. He wrapped his arms around her to warm her up.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, still too dazed to pull away from him.

"Do I need a reason to come and visit you, love?"

Sarah furrowed her forehead, a mannerism that caused Jareth to smile almost tenderly and brush a lock of hair out of her face.

"Well, yes," she said.

"And why is that?" he asked her.

"Well… well… why would you?"

He chuckled and ran his fingertips along her back. "You seem intent upon going in circles," he teased her; "it's a wonder you ever made it through my Labyrinth."

Sarah tried to shake herself out of her daze. She wasn't sure why she was acting this way; she supposed that while she'd stood up to the idea of him admirably, and forged her way through the Labyrinth, she'd always felt a bit awed in the presence of the King of the Goblins himself.

And this was such an odd setting in which to find him, in the peaceful, familiar park that had been the backdrop of her childhood playacting and fantasy games.

Games in which she'd meet someone exactly like him.

Perhaps it was so strange partly because it was so unexpectedly fitting.

"Are you really here for no reason at all?" she asked finally.

He smiled. "Just checking in on an old friend," he said.

"And then you stopped by to visit me afterwards?" she asked.

He threw his head back and laughed.

"Well, friends issue aside, we haven't actually known each other very long," she pointed out. "I couldn't be called an 'old' anything of yours, friend, nemesis or otherwise."

His lips quirked upwards slightly. "Touché," he said. "Just stopping by to see a new friend, then."

"Are we?" she asked. "Friends?"

He shrugged. "Why not?"

"Because you stole my brother away and then I beat your Labyrinth?" Sarah suggested.

"You asked that I take him," Jareth reminded her.

"I know." Sarah had actually thought about that quite a bit in the past few months; if she'd still had him cast so firmly as the villain, she would have run far away from this spot long before now.

"And I offered you the chance to run," he continued. "So, there's no need for hard feelings."

"Are you suggesting a truce?"

He cocked his head to the side. "I suppose I am."

"You really want to be my friend?" It was difficult not to feel flattered at the prospect. "Why?"

"No one else has solved the Labyrinth," Jareth admitted to her. "I'm sure you can imagine I'm a bit interested in learning more about the soul who could do that."

Sarah smiled, slowly. It was the fantasy she'd dreamed of without the life-and-death consequences. There was no way she could turn that down.

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours," she said jokingly.

He squeezed her in his arms. "Deal."

Twilight had ended by now, and it was completely dark. School would not start for a couple more weeks, and Sarah was not expected to baby-sit that night, and though she hadn't planned to be out very late she had several hours before she'd have to worry about curfew. Anyway, it didn't seem nearly so chilly with the Goblin King cradling her in his arms.

She paused for a moment when she realized exactly what she'd said. Words had power with this man, she knew. She should be a bit more careful what kind of promises she made when dealing with him. What had she just said? She'd just promised to show him her soul.

Just promised to bare her soul to him, so long as he bared his to hers. When Sarah shivered this time, it had nothing to do with the temperature.

"What do you want to know?" she asked timidly.

And they talked, and to her surprise, it was easy. Her heart soared when she could make him laugh, and she was amazed to find a person, a real person, behind what had before been just a façade of arrogance.

Not that he didn't still have arrogance in spades.

They tired of sitting after a while, and Sarah suggested they take a walk. She was still in his lap, and he released her from his arms and allowed her to rise. He stood up a moment later. They looked at each other for a moment, then both turned to walk along the bank of the pond, towards the woods. Jareth put an arm around her to keep him warm; she smiled up at him in thanks.

"Why were you so frightening in the Labyrinth?" she asked him, pressing her cheek against the fabric of his tunic.

"It was my role. You wished me to be frightening," he told her. "Just as you wished your baby brother to me."

"But why did you do as I wished?" Sarah asked.

"The rules of the game," he said.

"We hadn't started the game when I wished away Toby."

"Ah, on the contrary—" he glanced down at her and gave her a sensual grin, made to look almost feral by his two sharp incisors "—those were the words that began the game."

"Words to begin the game, and those to end it," Sarah said.

"Yes." He nodded.

"And you must grant all the wishes of those who start the game?"

"No. Not all," he said. "Just some."

"Which ones?"

The clock tower chimed ten, each toll carrying from above them and beyond the forest. She really should be heading home soon if she didn't want Karen and her father angry with her. She had been better, more responsible the past few months, and they would perhaps let more slide now than they might have in the past, but that could easily change if she started rebelling against the rules again.

Sarah looked up at the clock placidly, and made no move to extract herself from Jareth's arm.

"The ones that matter," he said. "The ones that are pure. And the ones which intrigue me."

"Which were mine?" she had to inquire.

He chuckled softly. "Ah, now, that would be telling, wouldn't it?"

She could press him, she supposed, based on their deal, but she did not. Already she was seeing so much more of him that she had ever dreamt possible. Once in a while she wondered if perhaps this really was a dream; but the warmth of his body, the cool of the night, the softness of his clothing brushing against his skin, the rich timbre of his voice and his laugh… all of these things were much too real to be a dream.

Finally, after many long hours the moon began to set on the horizon. Soon the sun would be rising. Her parents would be so worried, she knew; she'd known it all along but still had not torn herself away. But the setting of the moon called her back to reality, in a way, and she knew that she had to leave.

She looked up at him sadly. "I've stayed too long," she admitted to him. "Much longer than I should have."

He gazed back down on her face with an unreadable expression. "I, too, I suppose," he said. "I do not think I was even supposed to come at all."

Sarah pressed her lips together; she'd promised to bare her soul. "I'm glad you did," she breathed.

He hesitated for a moment, brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, then leaned down to kiss her forehead gently.

"Go," he said. "Thank you for this night."

"Thank you, too," she said. She looked down, and blushed. She took a few steps away from him, backwards. She didn't want to turn away from him because she didn't want him to leave. She knew that when he did, she would feel strangely bereft; though she did not feel entirely safe in his presence, having him beside her gave her a feeling of completion that she did not want to relinquish. But finally, she knew, she had to. She locked eyes with his, nodded to him slightly in goodbye, then turned to start the journey from the park towards her home.

She turned around to look back, just in time to see an owl launch into flight and soar over the treetops. She sighed, a bit wistfully, and turned to continue her walk home, knowing she would have to face irate parents when she arrived.

Over the next few months, she kept expecting to see him again; but as the weeks went by and still she never saw him, she thought that maybe that was the end. She tried not to let it hurt, and told herself that maybe he just wanted to settle things with her so that she could look back on him and on his world with fondness.

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A/N: This may seem like a one-shot, but it's definitely a chaptered piece; currently I'm planning on seven chapters in all. Please read and review!