Disclaimer – I do not own Labyrinth or any of the music or lyrics from the movie. If I did I would have made Sarah stay with Jareth and forget about Toby. It's not that I hate kids or anything, I actually like them. But if it comes down to the gorgeous goblin king or the kid who picks the kid?

Summary – Jareth takes Sarah in after a tragedy. How will she adapt to living with the goblin king? Jareth x Sarah

Author's Note – I got the idea for this fic from the lyrics to Within You by David Bowie. The fic is loosely based on the lyrics but doesn't follow them too closely.

Within You

November 20th should have been like any other birthday for Sarah Williams. She had gone out and had dinner with her friends; they had caught a movie, and partied for a long time. Everything would have been better if she hadn't left the party alone, but it was only a five-block walk to her apartment. She was 20 now and she could take care of herself. She needed the cold, fresh air to help her sober up anyway. She shouldn't have had that much beer but birthdays only came once a year. Just because she wasn't 21 didn't mean she couldn't party low key.

Fate had intervened that night and cascaded into her life like a rushing flood. A rushing flood full of hunger, passion, thirst, and change. It took her as quickly as it could leaving her changed for eternity. She was scarred and yet freed by her transformation, a dark butterfly blossoming into the future. But her freedom would come later, after her life settled into some type of rhythm again. Her freedom would come to be her most prized possession but first she had to fight through the pain.

Rough hands grabbed her and threw her to the ground. Her screams were muffles by clawed hands forcing her mouth shut. Fangs tore into her throat as razor sharp nails tore through her shirt. The vampire drained her to the point of exhaustion and moved to her breasts. She was nearing the brink of death and there was nothing that she could do about it. As quickly as he had come he left her, dumping her into a dark squalid alley.

She didn't know how long she slept as she saw the dark sky again. The exposure to the cold should have killed her. Thieves should have picked her off or a rapist should have found her, but no harm befell her. As weak as she was she began to exude an aura of extreme power. It was a potent enough illusion to fool the most hardened criminals, and they left her to her own devices.

She didn't think about any of that as she crawled to her apartment struggling to unlock the door. Her wounds had opened and she had left a scarlet trail to her doorstep that would alert anyone in their right mind to foul play. She would have thought that the red on white was beautiful if she hadn't been in such a pinch. She dragged herself to the bathroom and managed to run a warm bath. The water was agony as she let it touch her wounds cleansing them and hurting beyond belief. The hot water, her exposure to the cold, and her lack of food had left her so weak that she only had time to call out a short plea before she fainted. Jareth, please come. I need you she called as she sank into the water.

No sooner had she finished her summons than a barn owl crashed through the window. Immediately it transformed into the goblin king and stepped over to the bathtub. Kneeling down and pulling her head out of the water he propped her on the edge of the tub. Then while searching the cupboards Jareth found a washcloth and gently cleaned Sarah's wounds, noting how quickly they were healing. Any human would have died from the mauling, cold, and exhaustion but Sarah hadn't died. She was doing quite well considering her situation, which meant she had become something other than human. His beloved was a vampire and wouldn't be able to survive in her world. She would be hunted and killed or would starve because of the other vampires being more powerful than her. As he finished washing her shoulders he thought grimly of lyrics he had once sung to her.

Live without your sunlight, love without your heartbeat.

'There are a lot of coincidences but this takes the cake' Jareth thought

'May as well take advantage of the situation since what's said is said and this can't be undone'