"Lively little thing, aren't you, little one? Got my eyes, too."
Jareth admired the newborn in his arms. A girl this time, complete with fuzzy pink blanket. Not even a day old yet, and after the recent 13-hour ordeal, she was finally his. She would make a delightful addition to his court.
He sensed, rather than heard, when the girl's mother entered the room behind him, but didn't bother turning around until he heard her voice.
"There's something sexy about a man playing with a baby."
Jareth smirked. That wasn't the comment he'd expected, but who was he to turn down the compliment? "Six weeks, darling" he reminded her as she came up behind him.
"Hmmm, torture" she muttered, patting him on the bum before curling her arms around his waist.
"For both of us" Jareth agreed, shifting the child to one arm and slipping the other around the woman's shoulders.
Her hair was a tangled mess, and the circles under her eyes almost made her look bruised. Dressed in a simple nightshirt, she looked exhausted, wrung out, and . . . and . . .
...and she was the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen. He smiled warmly, still amazed that she was his woman. He kissed her tenderly on the temple. "You should be resting," he scolded gently, "the healers will have a fit if they learn you were up."
"I'm not an invalid!" she grumbled. "No," he countered. "You are a woman who has just given birth. You need your rest. To bed. Now."
This last was spoken as an order. And had the same effect his orders always did where this woman was concerned. Namely, she wrinkled her nose and ignored it.
"Darling..." he sighed. Of all the women he could have fallen in love with, why did she have to be so obstinate?
"I can't rest when you're not there."
Her confession caught him off-guard. He watched her gently touching their daughter's face, and couldn't help but smile. So that was how it was, hmm? "Well, a king has ways of dealing with such things!" While still holding his daughter, he gently walked both of them back to the bedchamber, settled his wife among the covers, and laid the new babe in her arms. "I'll be back in one moment" he told them with a kiss, and slipped out the door.
It was only a few moments later he returned, a small crew of goblins in his wake. They were under strict orders (complete with threat of bogging!) to remain silent so as not to disturb the queen or new princess as they moved the nursery furniture to the royal bedchamber. Once the bassinet was in place along his wife's side of the bad, he ordered the goblins out again, with a few threats hanging as to what would happen if he were disturbed for the rest of the day. Once they were alone, he took the baby and settled her in her own bed, before crawling in to spoon beside his wife.
"Six weeks, darling" she reminded him playfully as his arms snaked around her. He grumbled "torture" and they watched their daughter sleep, until exhaustion finally lulled the new mother to dreamland.
The Goblin King cradled his Queen, and smiled in amazement at his life.