Disclaimer- I own: daily migraines, a small cat, and an enormous amount of homework. I am in no way affiliated with the owners, authors, writers, directors, actors, producers or puppets of the Labyrinth or the Dresden Files. (Can you imagine a Dresden muppet? 'member Angel? Yea. I'm just gonna leave this right here.) I'm off topic. This isn't mine. I'm just messing up other peoples stuff again.
Author's Note- This is my first cross over fic. I know I'm supposed to be working on the second chapter of "In the Dark", but this thing came to me while I was driving to the grocery. IN ITS ENTIRETY. That never happens! I was like, "Quick! Write it down before the memory dump!" So please, be gentle, as I am attempting to write three of my favorite characters of all time, and keeping them all in character is gonna be… difficult.
Rated T for now because these chappies seem relatively harmless. If something wicked this way comes, I'll warn ye, aye?
Chapter 1- Hot Water
Back in the bed room, the alarm clock started ringing shrilly. With a heartfelt groan of resignation, Molly unwrapped herself from around Harry's naked, soapy body and reached out to grab a towel.
"The one morning the water heater made it all the way through-"
Harry favored her with a grin.
"Have a great day at work. This is why I'm self-employed. My boss says stay in the shower till the hot water runs out."
Molly laughed at him and stepped out onto the bathmat into a fog bank of hot, steamy air. The mirror was completely fogged over. She shook her head and used her finger to trace out a message. Once upon a time, her father would draw pictures for her, or write "I love you" on her mirror while she showered before school. Her message this morning was slightly less sentimental.
"You suck"
There. That expressed her feelings pretty well. Once outside the bathroom, she yanked a brush through her multi-colored hair, pulled it up into a fast ponytail and threw on her scrubs. With her watch accusing her of being late, she dashed into the kitchen, inhaled a bowl of cottage cheese, snatched her keys and got her phone out of the freezer. Upstairs she heard "God damn it."
Ha. He'd finally killed the water heater. She only hoped it wasn't permanent…again. Her "replace all the stuff that breaks when Harry sleeps over" fund was running pretty low these days. And although her phone seemed to do pretty well in the freezer, and light bulbs were pretty easy to replace, there were other things that didn't do so well.
On her way out the door, she heard him find her message and laugh.
It had been an absolutely exhausting day at work. They'd had three scheduled surgeries on enormous dogs, plus it seemed like every one had had an emergency. They'd had a chocolate toxicity, a foreign body ingestion and a pancreatitis case… and that was all before lunch. It was one of those 14 hour days that was going to make her a lot of money in overtime but was going to require a deep tissue massage and a fifth of whiskey to recover from.
She was looking forward to heading home and dropping straight into bed, and she wasn't exactly what you might call "alert", which is how a group of otherwise normal seeming street thugs armed with nothing more than rope and a canvas bag, got the drop on her.
She struggled. She was only feet from her car and her keys had a fob with a panic button on it, she started pressing it frantically. It did absolutely nothing. Mental note: replace keys and then keep them in the freezer. Her pepper spray was in her purse, which had already been liberated by the ruffians and thugs. She'd been grabbed from behind by one of the larger men who slammed the bag over her head. There was a foul smell inside the bag, and she really didn't see this going in any positive direction. She tried- she really did, but self-defense is really difficult when you've got your arms strapped to your sides and you can't see anything. So, she did literally the only thing she could think of-
"I wish the goblins would come and take me away, right now!" It was muffled by the bag over head.
It was a Hail Mary. She didn't know if you could wish yourself away. She didn't know if you could wish an adult away. All Molly knew was that whatever these guys had planned, she wanted no part of it.
At first she could hear nothing but the rough breathing and the grunting of her attackers as they pushed her quickly in the direction opposite her car, and then she heard a chittering sound that got gradually louder as the wind picked up.
"Holy Shit!" A man's voice shouted. And that was the last thing she heard before she felt the world spin out from underneath her.
Distantly, she felt hands on her ankles and calves, but they were smaller and bony and she could feel claws through the thin fabric of her scrubs. Had it worked? If it had, oh god… was that actually an improvement? This may have been poorly conceived.
As suddenly as it began, the spinning stopped and the world slammed into place. The bag was still over her head and arms, secure by a rope or belt or something and not being able to extend her arms for balance, she toppled, and ended up half sitting, half lying on the ground.
She struggled to lift herself to a sitting position. And then she heard footsteps. Loud, echoing footsteps coming towards her across a stone floor. The chittering, laughing whispers cut off abruptly. Whoever was making the footfalls stopped mere inches away.
"Well. This is new."
A/N- Ok, a couple of things. It's pretty much an AU, obviously. I'll explain why Molly is working at a vet clinic later. And don't hate me for the pairing. I was team Murphy for 13 years, but can you really see her wishing herself away to the goblin king? No way. Also, I'm starting with an omniscient 3rd person narrator, but I reserve the right to vacillate wildly between POV's for absolutely no reason at all. Lastly, please review. If I think this sucks too bad, I'm likely to abandon it. Reviews are wildly appreciated. (You should also feel free to tell me it sucks. I'll drop it like it's hot).