I must say that I spent two years writing this story of mine. After several attempts to finish it before Christmas Eve of 2011 and then again last year, I decided to take my time with it and upload it this year.

Many of the goblins, plays, food, etc. belong to The Goblins of Labyrinth by Brian Froud and Terry Jones.

This is my longest one-shot to date (4288 words, 13 pages) and probably my favourite story I've written. This story is not beta-ed, so please, excuse all errors (and if you find any, please let me know and I'll fix it as soon as I can).

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth, or The Goblins of Labyrinth.

A Very Gobliny Holiday

The holiday season was upon them; it was a given. Everyone was frantically bustling in the small and crowded streets of the city, wanting to get the best gifts for their family and friends, but also looking for the best prices. City shops and buildings were covered in lights, tinsel and baubles, making night-time in the city a sight to see. And every tree in view was decorated from stop to bottom. Who knew that the Goblin City, as dull-looking as it was, could look so beautiful during Christmas?

However, inside the castle beyond the Goblin City, was the most festive, decorated place in the whole city. Imagine a shopping centre at Christmas and double it. Every inch, corner and crack of the castle was covered in tinsel, baubles and fairy lights – no, literally, these were actual fairy lights; what did you expect Hoggle to do with the dead fairies?

Speaking of Hoggle, he could be seen walking down the cobbled road of Main Street through the hustle and bustle of the crowd. He, by accident, bumped into Spürgüs, the Happiest Goblin, the Goblin with No Problems, to name a few of his titles. Spürgüs did not notice and kept on walking with a grin on his face. Hoggle shook his head in astonishment. How can one goblin be so happy all the time? I will never knows, he thought.

Hoggle entered a store and stood in line. There were only two goblins in front of him, so he waited patiently. A few minutes later, Hoggle was now at the counter.

He looked behind the worker and swiftly read through the menu, already knowing what he had wanted to order, but read it out of habit.

"I'lls have one Grit Cake, thanks," he ordered, and then payed for his purchase and continued on his journey.

pa rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum

Sarah hummed along with the music (White Christmas – the Bing Crosby version, of course) from her stereo as her hips swayed from side to side while she tossed tinsel on her Christmas tree. The fireplace crackled and spread warmth within her tiny lounge room.

Once she was finished, she stood back, eyed her tree for a moment and gave a nod of approval with a satisfied grin and sigh. She then left the room for only a moment and returned holding a white plastic bag.

She pulled out a neatly wrapped gift from the plastic bag and placed it under her tree. Sarah continued this process until there were no gifts left in the bag. A bunch of gifts, both big and small, now surrounded the bottom of her tree.

A continuous beeping came from a room behind her. She walked into her kitchen and slowly pulled her hot chocolate from the microwave and headed to her couch. The last notes of White Christmas died down until there was no music at all. She was content with the silence and the dimly-lit lights as she sipped her hot chocolate toppled with two large marshmallows.

Christmas was her favourite time of year; 'the family season', she called it. However, this year was different. Sarah could not spend Christmas with her family. She was meant to leave for New York the day before yesterday. However, a blizzard had stopped all airlines to and from New York. As a result, the blizzard kept her in 'exciting' Hollywood on Christmas Eve. Her own mother was not in town, either. She and her long-time boyfriend, Jeremy, went to England to visit his relatives. However, despite her loneliness, Sarah was content with her current situation. A lot of people spend Christmas alone, she thought. I'm not the only one–

A slightly loud thump and a groan behind her caused a stop in her train of thought. Sarah placed her hot chocolate on the coffee table before turning around to see her intruder.

Her intruder was on his knees, clutching a white box in his hand. He was short with a few pink bumps over his dirty face.

"Hoggle?" she guessed. "Is that you?" She squinted against the dim lights.

Hoggle mumbled something about landings under his breath as he stood up and dusted himself off.

Sarah walked over to him and turned on a lamp.

"Hoggle?" she asked again. "What are you doing here?"

He turned to her and grumbled. "Well, hello to you, too."

"Oh!" she gasped. "I'm sorry. You caught me off guard," she explained. "I'm alone on Christmas Eve, you see." She shook her head and crouched down to Hoggle's height. "How are you, Hoggle? It's been a while."

Hoggle smiled in response. "No need to apologise. I'm great. Here," he said and gave her the white box he had been clutching. "I got you something."

"Oh, thank you, Hoggle. You didn't have to do that," she replied, taking the gift. "Had I known, I would've gotten you something, too."

Hoggle smiled and shook his head. "No, that's quite alright." He glanced at the unopened box. "What are you waiting for? Open it!" he insisted.

Following his insistence, Sarah opened the gift. A plate was presented to her with an unattractive cake on it and what looked like to be tiny, crushed stones sprinkled on top of it (she sure hoped it was chocolate). She looked up at Hoggle and smiled confusingly.

"It's Grit Cake," he revealed. "A goblin delicacy."

"Grit? As in… gravel?"

Hoggle nodded enthusiastically. "The one and only!"

Sarah couldn't help but laugh at his thought in gifts; even it meant Goblin cuisine with ridiculous ingredients.

"Thank you, Hoggle. I really appreciate it." She really did. She then hugged him and walked into her kitchen.

"Why are you alone this Christmas?" Hoggle asked, making himself comfortable on her couch.

"A blizzard," she called out from her kitchen. She closed her fridge and joined Hoggle. "But s'alright, you know? I don't have to spend every Christmas with my family," she continued before taking another sip of her hot chocolate.

"You have ta spend Christmas with someone, Sarah," Hoggle stated. He then gasped a moment later. "I knows! You can spend Christmas with us in the Goblin City."

Sarah halted her movements. "Hmm… I don't know about that, Hoggle."

Hoggle jumped up and stood in front of her. "Christmas is the most festive time of year and so is the Goblin City. We have everything from food to baubles to festivity plays. You name it," he persuaded with enthusiasm.

She considered Hoggle's speech; on one hand, she wouldn't be alone and it did sound like a festive place, but on the other hand, she didn't know if a certain someone would mind if she were there. Making up her mind, she placed her half-empty cup of hot chocolate on her coffee table and stood up.

"Ok, I'll spend Christmas with you, but you have to answer me something first."

Hoggle nodded. "Anything."

She paused, with slight hesitation before asking: "Would the King mind if I were there?"

"I don't know," he replied with a shrug. "I stopped listening to Jareth a long time ago. He probably won't mind; it's Christmas, after all," he stated.

Sarah sighed heavily, but then smiled at Hoggle. "Ok, then. Let's go."

"Now that's the spirit!" Hoggle exclaimed and clasped on to her hand. She then felt herself fade into the air.

She opened her eyes. When did I shut my eyes? She shook her head of the thought and her attention went to the bright lights that were all around her. She was in awe. Hoggle was right; the Goblin City was beautiful at Christmas time. She did not have time to look around her surroundings as Hoggle's hand latched onto her arm and pulled her towards the castle.

They soon arrived at the castle doors, which were wide open. Goblins were walking in and out of the castle as they pleased, each were covered in something related to Christmas.

"Hoggle," she started, with a quiet laugh. "You weren't kidding about the festivity around here."

"Yeah, yeah," Hoggle said. "Now, come on. We're going to be late."

"Late for what?" she asked, but she never got an answer.

Still pulling her, he rounded a corner and they entered in a magnificent, large dining room. Decorations hung from the ceiling and the walls. Plates of food covered a lengthy, brown table with lit candles in between the plates, and at the far end of the table, sat a throne with an amused Goblin King upon it.

Sarah watched him get up and walk over to Hoggle and herself. She couldn't help notice his strut as he walked over. She also noticed that he had not aged a bit since she last saw him. His blonde hair had maintained its normality, still wild and big; he reminded her of a rock star.

Stopping in front of them, Jareth spoke. "Well, what do we have here?" he drawled, his eyes shifting between the two.

Sensing Hoggle's silence, Sarah spoke first. "Hoggle invited me, but please do not get angry with him."

Still very amused, Jareth just smirked. "That's quite alright. I won't get angry; it's Christmas, after all, but someone will suffer some sort of punishment by this little deception. I was not expecting any dinner guests tonight, but no matter," he said, clasping his hands together, his eyes settled on Sarah.

Sarah was taken aback and she raised an eyebrow at him. He did nothing but smirk.

"Hungry, anyone?" he asked both of them. "We have a whole range of food and drink. Come, eat, drink," he suggested as he gestured to the large table behind him. He held out a hand to Sarah, who suspiciously looked at it before taking it. He guided her to the top of the table and sat her to his right; Hoggle followed them and sat across from Sarah.

She was amazed by the quantity of food that was placed in front of her. Where to start? She asked herself as her eyes shifted from plate to plate.

"This all looks delicious," she admitted, picking up a few potatoes with her fork.

Jareth nodded in agreement. "Our chef, Weech, is the finest."

Hoggle, who had already half-gobbled up a chicken leg, nodded also. "Absolutely. She makes the best Something Brown in a Brown Gravy with Some Other Blackish-Brown Bits Scraped Off the Side."

Sarah raised her eyebrows, not quite sure whether to smile or be disgusted.

"She can cook for armies all by herself," Hoggle continued. "However, she likes the help of her assistant… oh, bugger, what's his name?" he asked before stuffing a handful of blue-coloured food Sarah was not familiar with into his mouth.

Jareth chuckled. "Ah, yes. Stench, I believe is Weech's assistant. Great cook. He helped prepare tonight's food, as a matter of fact."

Stench? I sure hope he doesn't reflect his name, Sarah thought, swallowing the non-existent vomit that appeared at the base of her throat.

"You should try Something Brown in a Brown Gravy with Some Other Blackish-Brown Bits Scraped Off the Side, Sarah, it's quite nice," Hoggle insisted as he gestured toward the food. "However, I personally love Weech's Two Brown Things in a Brown Gravy with a Another Brown Thing on Top – Twice."

Sarah nodded and cut a small piece of the black and brown food, dipped it in some gravy, took a mental breath in, and stuck it in her mouth.

As she chewed – crunched actually – on the very lengthy titled meal, tasting sweet potato (potato wasn't meant to be crunchy…) and gravy, Sarah noticed a small grin on the King's face, watching her eat. To her surprise, Something Brown in a Brown Gravy with Some Other Blackish-Brown Bits Scraped Off the Side tasted quite nice. It wasn't as disgusting as she anticipated.

"Do you have any Christmas traditions here?" she asked Jareth after swallowing a sip of wine.

Leaning back in his throne, one elbow resting on an arm of the throne, the other over his knee, Jareth nodded. "We have a classic Goblin production performing later tonight."

"Oh, yes. The Play About a Goblin Who Fell into a Bucket of Something or Other and Then Oh! What Happened Next I Can't Remember But You Know the Piece Because It's So Famous Everybody Knows It is one of my favourite plays," Hoggle said. "Aprön plays the lead every year, she's the best."

"He also has many hit singles, but it's such a shame no one has ever heard them," Jareth interjected, before drinking the last of his wine from a beautiful golden chalice.

"Wait a minute," Sarah replied and held up a hand. "You," she pointed to Hoggle, "said that Aprön was female, while you," she turned to Jareth, "said Aprön was male," she recalled, confused.

"Aprön is either male or female," Jareth informed. "On one's view of Aprön, one can decide whether he is male or female."

Several minutes passed by in small conversation. A total of five goblins walked in the dining room and cleared the table. Those same five goblins came swiftly back, but now carried plates of what looked like to be cakes, chocolate coated strawberries and other delicious desserts. And from when it entered the room, Sarah had her eyes on a beautiful chocolate cake.

"Oh, very nice choice, Sarah," said Jareth softly. He leaned in to pull the plate over. "Let me cut you a slice."

Sarah stared at him with curiosity, like he was a mysterious creature that nobody knew of.

"Thank you," she replied, with a tone of suspiciousness.

"You sound unsure of yourself, Sarah," he whispered, placing the chocolate cake slice on her plate.

A slight smirk appeared on her lips. "The last time I saw you, you were very… unpredictable," she informed.

Jareth leaned back in his chair; cast a quick glance to Hoggle, who was currently unaware of their conversation, and smirked.

"As I recall, you, too, were unpredictable."

Sarah laughed. "Touché."

When she finally had a bite of the deliciously looking chocolate cake, she felt like she had been lifted up to heaven.

"This is the best cake I've ever had!" she exclaimed. "Your chef is an absolute genius."

Jareth smiled and nodded.

"This was a great meal, but I's gotta run," Hoggle said, pushing his plate away and standing up. "There's an opening act before the play tonight that I's gotta see. I won't be able to stay for the whole play; gotta sleep sometime. Would you like to come, Sarah?" he asked.

Sarah smiled and cocked her head. She glanced quickly to Jareth, who was watching her.

"I think I'm going to stay here, Hoggle, but thanks anyway. We can do something tomorrow, if you like?" she reasoned, sounding hopeful.

Hoggle nodded. "Yeah, that's ok. We can see the encore performance, it'll be fantastic," he informed. With a smile to Sarah and a small stink-eye to Jareth, Hoggle then took his leave.

Sarah, as she continued to eat her cake, heard a deep chuckle beside her. Turning a fraction, she raised her brow to Jareth.

He causally leaned forward with two elbows on the long table. "I'll give you five seconds to escape and join the dwarf," he tempted, with a small smirk tugging at the side of his mouth.

Sarah said nothing, returned his smirk and continued to chew.

Five seconds passed in a flash. With clinking of utensils, Sarah placed them on her plate.

"The cake was delicious," she stated with a smile. "My compliments to the chef."

Jareth smiled, but was quiet for a few moments. Sarah looked down at her now empty plate, aware of the silence.

The sound of a loud dragging caused her to look up. Jareth now stood beside her with an opened, gloved hand.

"Fancy a stroll through the city?" he asked her.

Any hesitation she had was long gone, and so Sarah placed her hand in his. "Sure," she responded with a smile and they walked out of the room.

pa rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum

"And, that, over there is where Ludo pushed himself all the way up to the top and called the rocks," she announced, recalling from her memory as she pointed to the now reconstructed house.

"Hmm, yes," Jareth drawled. "The occupants of that house were not happy for a few months after that."

Sarah's mouthed opened and she placed her free hand to her heart in mocking jest – her other hand was gently placed on Jareth's arm; he led her around the city, like a gentleman. They walked down the very busy Main Street. The air was nippy and Sarah was thankful for the new warm jacket that she bought a few weeks ago.

Sarah glanced at each shop she could get view of. On her right, there was a lovely goblin couple dancing sporadically – to no music, oddly enough. A bunch of goblins surrounded them, each in awe of the dancing. To her left, three goblins sat in a row, brows furrowed as they were all knitting, quite quickly, actually. Several spectators were wooing, cheering, and applauding the knitters.

"What's with the knitting?" she asked Jareth and gestured over to the kitting goblins.

"Knitting here is taken seriously and competitively. It's a sport, you might say," Jareth replied, looking straight ahead. "It can get very dangerous."

They walked further down the street before they came across a goblin that had paint all over his hands and face, an easel next to him, and holding a giant paint palette – a palette that was almost the size of his own head.

"Your Majesty," the goblin kneeled down. "It would be my honour to paint a portrait of Your Majesty and his companion, free of charge, of course," he offered.

Jareth's head cocked to the side, as if he was pondering on the goblin's offer. "I think that would be a lovely idea, Püg," he nodded and then turned to Sarah. "If it's alright with Sarah, of course," he said with a smile.

Sarah looked from Jareth to Püg (whose name was pronounced as Guppie) and smiled. "Sure, why not? Thank you, Püg."

And then, within seconds, Püg positioned Sarah in front of Jareth and had her to lean back against his chest, while Jareth had to lean his head against Sarah's. To an outsider, they were the picture-perfect image of a couple. And while Püg did not tell them where to put their hands, Jareth had sneakily moved one of his hands to Sarah's waist and, much to her surprise, she gently held his hand.

The painting process only took ten minutes, if at all. During the short time, Jareth would whisper into Sarah's ear and occasionally caress Sarah's hand with his thumb.

"Püg is one of the greatest artists of his generation. I have all of his paintings in my gallery; he's got a very good eye for detail," he said.

"You have a gallery?" Sarah asked and softly laughed. "Why am I not surprised?"

Jareth gave a hearty chuckle which earned a stern look from Püg as his hair tickled Sarah's cheeks. "Oh, yes, I do. I have many of the best paintings the Goblin City has ever seen. You should see it one day. I've even got a small collection of your world's paintings, but those are for my eyes only."

Sarah smiled and nodded in response as Püg announced that he was almost complete with his painting. With large, dramatic strokes of his paintbrush, paint splattered across Püg's face, and with a satisfied smile, he nodded.

Jareth was the first to move and he pulled Sarah softly with him as they viewed the painting. Sarah gasped. The painting looked as if it was stolen out of a famous gallery and painted sometime in the 18th century.

"Oh, my, this is beautiful!" Sarah marvelled. "Thank you so much, Püg," she said, smiling at his small stature.

"Püg, you have truly outdone yourself," Jareth said as he pulled out a crystal. "This painting is very beautiful, and I hope you accept this as gratitude on behalf of both Sarah and I for your talented skills," he finished and held out the crystal to Püg.

Püg stammered. "But-t-t, Your Maj-j-esty—"

"You've earned it, Püg, and this sort of talent should not go unrewarded. Thank you for this beautiful painting, and please accept this gift," Jareth said once more and moved the crystal closer to Püg.

Püg's jaw dropped and held out shaky hands. When the crystal finally made contact with Püg's hands, it turned into gold coins. Sarah's eyes widened. They're must've been at least a few hundred dollars' worth of gold there, maybe even more.

Püg's eyes widened and his mouth opened and closed a few times as he stared at the gold, blinking rapidly. "Thank you, Your Majesty, Lady Sarah," Püg thanked, bowing several times.

pa rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum

When they entered the Throne Room, Sarah took the chance to look around. Last time she was here, the place had been deserted, not a soul in the room besides Hoggle, Ludo, Sir Didymus and Ambrosias, and herself. Now as she looked around, she saw at least thirty goblins swinging off the walls, bouncing up and down, drinking, eating, and being merry. Their king made his way to his throne and sat down, placed his painting beside the large throne, and then motioned with his hand for Sarah to join him.

For a moment, Sarah had no idea where to sit. She couldn't sit on the arm of the throne, nor could she sit on the King's lap. As she slowly moved toward Jareth, he produced a chair for Sarah, right next to the throne. The chair was elegant and had two small pillows resting against the back of the chair. Clearly, the chair was for her.

Finally reaching the chair, she took a quick glance to Jareth who was looking at a couple of goblins who were obviously pissed drunk. And then he turned to Sarah with an amused look on his face.

"Goblin made ale has quite the effect on goblins," he said, chuckling and motioned toward to very drunk goblins who were now dancing ballet. Music was playing, but it was nowhere near ballet music. Sarah swore she could hear a ukulele and a steel drum…

Sarah glanced at each goblin and was surprised to find that most of them shared her glance. Confused, she leaned closer to Jareth and turned slightly.

"Why are they staring at me?" she asked.

His eyes found hers. "Well, it could be that they haven't seen a human for quite some time…" he paused. "Or, that there is mistletoe above us," he said softly.

Her mouth dropped a bit as she looked up above. There was, indeed, mistletoe above them. Moving her eyes back to Jareth's, in the midst of a sea of blue, she saw hope in them; he looked vulnerable. Her eyes then travelled down to his lips; they were thin and had specks of glitter on them. Glitter? Why am I not surprised? she asked herself.

"It's Christmas law, Sarah," Jareth joked with a small smile.

Sarah gave a small laugh and leaned in. Jareth met her halfway. His lips her caught hers and while she intended on giving him a chaste, little kiss, as soon as she pulled away the tiniest bit, his lips were on hers again, passion and heat between them. His hand found its way to her cheek and hers in his hair; a lot of hair, she thought.

All that was around them disappeared, and Sarah felt like she was lifted high up in the sky. She didn't know how long they were kissing for and didn't know who pulled away first, but she did know that she liked the tingling magic that was left on her lips and his forehead against hers.

Somewhere in the distance, a clock chimed thirteen. Goblins were cheering, clapping, and wishing everyone a merry Christmas.

"Merry Christmas, Sarah," he whispered, his cool breath hitting her face.

She sighed, closed her eyes and gave him the chaste kiss she intended before, and then pulled away to put her forehead back on his. "Merry Christmas, Jareth."

Jareth pulled her closer and rested her head against his head. They both sat there in a comfortable silence while they watched the goblins be gobliny.

pa rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum

"Why can't you just tell me where we're going?" she asked, annoyed. She couldn't see a damned thing with the blindfold that was over her eyes. She had latched herself onto Jareth the second they started walking, and was pretty sure that her grip would leave a bruise for a few days.

"It's a surprise, precious. What would be the fun in telling you?" he replied.

Sarah frowned, but knew that he was being playful, as usual.

They soon stopped, but before she was allowed to take her blindfold off, she was being seated into a chair.

She felt Jareth sit next to her and his hands moved up to the blindfold. As it slowly came off, Jareth's lips were on her cheek, and she felt him smile.

"This is punishment for crashing my Christmas dinner last year. Merry Christmas, Sarah," he finished and gave her a teasing kiss.

Sarah gasped. "Jareth! It's a one-hundred and fifty hour play!" she whispered harshly, not wanting to create a scene.

"You'll get through it. There are a few intermissions here and there," he reassured with a chuckle, and then pressed a kiss into her hair.

She'll get him back one year, but for now, she had to sit through the critically acclaimed Goblin play "The Last Prawn" that lasted one-hundred and fifty hours.

Suffice it to say, she would have a very gobliny holiday, indeed.

I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!