A/N: My first Labyrinth fanfic in 16 years. I hope you like it.
Sarah Williams stood by the refreshment table as she watched the masked dancers waltz on the dance floor, trying hard not to let old memories overwhelm her. That was fifteen years ago, if it even happened at all. You should be over it by now.
But she wasn't. It didn't help that she couldn't be sure if her trip to the Labyrinth and meeting the Goblin King actually happened or was a figment of a very overactive teenage imagination. She never saw Hoggle, Ludo, or Sir Didymus again after that night. I guess I didn't need them after all. The thought brought her mood crashing down. Taking a champagne flute from a passing waiter, she took a sip then another, wanting to focus on anything besides that night.
As soon as she had read the email about the masquerade-themed office party, she knew, just knew, it would be a very bad idea to go. Sarah had tried to decline the invitation, but her boss hinted heavily that she expected Sarah to be there.
So here I am, wearing a rented ballgown that is much too heavy, a mask that makes me itch, and shoes that pinch and I am seriously considering just going home and curling up with a trashy romance novel and a glass of that cheap red wine I bought last week. Her mind made up, she set her champagne flute on the nearest empty table the headed for the door, taking off her mask as she went.
She was almost at the door when a man walked through it. Even with the mask, she would know him anywhere. The mismatched eyes, the spiky and long blond hair, and the tall, thin but elegant frame could belong to no one else. Jareth removed his mask as soon as he saw her and offered her a crooked smile. "Going somewhere, Sarah?"
The last things she saw as the room went black were his unique eyes.
Sarah woke up on her living room couch, still in the ballgown. The lights were all off, the only light in the flat coming from the streetlight outside. Sitting up slowly, she reached up and turned on the light on the endtable beside the sofa then jumped when she saw the Goblin King sitting in the nearby armchair with his elbow on the armrest and his head resting on his fist.
Dozing.
Stifling an urge to giggle, she took a moment to simply watch him. So, the man who's haunted me for half my life is real after all. While she had grown up, Jareth hadn't aged at all. But then he's fae, so he wouldn't, would he? He wore the same outfit he had when they had danced together. Sarah looked down at her ballgown, wincing slightly in embarrassment when she realized she'd subconsciously picked a silver gown reminiscent of her gown from that night.
"You gave everyone quite a scare, you know," Jareth murmured and, God help her, it sounded like a purr.
Her head jerked up to look at him. He had opened his eyes but otherwise hadn't moved. She found herself lost in the depths for a moment then she shook her head slightly, clearing it.
"You mean when I fainted?" she asked.
Jareth sat up, nodding. "I introduced myself as your boyfriend and explained that your bodice was too tight. No one objected when I said I would take you home."
"They actually believe you?" Sarah asked, disgusted. "You could've been a rapist or-"
He smirked. "Or a child-snatching Goblin King?"
She stiffened. "I was a child myself, I had no way of knowing you'd actually do what I asked."
"Of course you didn't," Jareth murmured. "You were too young to understand the consequences of your actions, whether they were wishing your baby brother away or giving a jaded, thousand-year-old fae a reason to find life interesting again."
Sarah stared at him. "Interesting?" Something compelled her to ask, "And if I were to do it now?"
"If you were in my arms again, Sarah, I wouldn't let you go for anything." He shifted in the chair, crossing his legs. "I came to you tonight because while you have needed me all these years, you were not ready to have me in your life again until now."
"What makes you say that?" she asked cautiously.
He smiled patiently. "You have a dead-end job, your social life is worse. There is no joy in your life. There is barely any life in your life, you're simply existing. What happened to your dreams, Sarah?"
"It's hard to dream of a life on the stage when there are thousands of other women with the same dream, many of them with more talent," she said quietly. "I settled for a secretarial job."
"And for an endless stream of blind dates, speed dating, and online dating that led nowhere." He gave her another crooked smile, but his eyes were softer. "And why shouldn't they? You had already met your soulmate when you were fifteen."
"I wouldn't go that far," she said carefully, but a big part of her really did want to go that far.
"Very well, would you go as far as to give me a chance to prove it to you?" There was a flash of what could only be nervousness in his eyes, but it was gone too fast for her to be certain.
Still, it gave her hope that he did care enough to be nervous. She gave him a small smile. "I think I could go that far, yes."
Jareth's crooked smile widened to something resembling a glorious sunrise after a very long night.