The New England weather had lifted enough that Sarah was able to leave her apartment. Work being canceled due to the ongoing blizzard, she had nothing better to do but wait it out. Not that she had been bored. Her cat, JC, kept her busy with demands for pets and plenty of lap snuggles.

And then there was Jareth and his goblins. They put her whole life out of whack, especially nowadays. Ever since his denizens took up living in her refrigerator, well things changed exponentially between the two of them.

Theirs was an odd friendship. He made it no secret that he had set his sights on her ages ago, but she refused, resisted, and finally relented, to his incessant requests for a date. The reason? They were arguing about his goblins inhabiting her fridge when her cat decided to attack his crotch.

She couldn't blame JC, really. He was only 6 months old at the time- barely 8 pounds, and didn't know any better.

Sarah gave an evil smirk. Imagine having 8 pounds of fur, fangs, and claws attached to… down there. It probably hurt him a lot. Served him right though! Strutting around in those pants- leaving nothing to the imagination.

Jareth used the opportunity to get her to go out on a date with him. He most likely used her slight overindulgence in alcohol and resulting lowered guard to his advantage as well.

Instead of popping back to the Underground after their date, he gentlemanly offered to escort Sarah home. Which, of course, lead to a peck on the lips that, turned into a make out session, that turned into too much clothing, that ended in breakfast the next day.

"Hat…hat… where did it go?" Sarah dug through her closet. Even though the weather was better, she had no doubt that it was still murderously cold out. "Ah-ha!" She pulled one of her knit ones out of a box. It looked like it had been attacked by rabid moths. "Oy, goblins!" she yelled. One by one, 10 goblins, a little bigger than her hands, filed into her room looking nervous. Whenever someone yelled for them it was rarely good.

"Hope she doesn't bog us," one wearing a coat made out of an old sock said.

Sarah glared at the group. "What have I told you about eating my clothes?" she asked showing them the holey hat.

They looked amongst themselves slightly confused. A sparkly hat-socked one spoke up, "We didn't do that Lady."

"Yeah," another chimed in, "he did," pointing at the blonde cat sprawled out on Sarah's bed. JC had grown in size over the couple of months, and now topped the scale at 12 pounds. And with his larger size, he was able to reach things he hadn't been able to before.

She stalked over to her bed and playfully hit his paws with her ruined hat. "Did you do this, you silly boy?" He purred and tried catching it, but she lifted it out of his reach. The game continued until, she enlarged one of the holes with her hands and popped it over his head like a poncho. Sarah laughed at him and petted his spikey furred head. "Silly," she cooed.

JC oblivious as to why he was 'silly' curled up in his new poncho and went back to sleep.

"Guess I'll need a new hat." She turned towards the goblins to give them instructions. "Watch him, I'm going to the store, and should be back in an hour or so. Don't eat anything unless it's on the approved list (which was tapped to the inside of her fridge and consisted of crude drawings of appropriate foods), and try to be quiet. We don't want the neighbors complaining again."

"TV?" a goblin asked.

"Yes, but not too loud. And no Gremlins films," she said firmly.

The last time the group had watched Gremlins, they proceeded to act like gremlins and trashed Sarah's apartment while she was at work. Not only did she have to deal with the mess after an 11-hour work day, she also had to assure the downstairs neighbors that, no she wasn't having a keg party.

"Yay!" the goblins squealed and ran into her living room.

Gathering her coat that was only mildly chewed on (by goblin or cat, she didn't know), scarf and mittens- Sarah was out the door.

"Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells," Sarah turned up the car radio. An instrumental version of "Jingle Bells" was one. She loved everything about the Christmas season- the lights, smells, decorations, food… and yes, even presents.

Feeling particularly happy, Sarah indulged in singing. She knew her key was off and that she probably sounded like a dying moose, but she didn't care. It's not like anybody else could hear her.

"Jingle Bells, Batman smells- Robin lays an egg," she belted.

"Batmobile lost its wheel and the Joker got awa- AHHH!"

Sarah never finished her song because the Goblin King popped into the seat next to her with his accompanying cloud to glitter.

"Don't do that!" she yelled at him, "You could have gotten me killed." She started coughing as she inhaled some of the glitter cloud.

"Sarah," I would never let anything happen to you. He patted her thigh reassuringly. "Besides, I dropped by and you weren't home. The goblins said you were at the store." His voice sounded different. Deeper if possible.

She stopped at a light and looked around to see if anybody had noticed that her singularly occupied car, now had two occupants. Didn't look like it.

"You hate grocery shopping. What's wrong?" She looked at him. His hair was less puffy, nose was red and runny, eyes swollen. She quickly removed a mitten and felt his forehead- he felt warmer than usual. "Ah."

He gave a surprisingly dignified sniffle. "It's not that bad."

"Your forehead is warm," she slid her hand to his cheek, "and you're clammy." The light turned green and she started driving again. "You're sick, Jareth, is that why you came to see me?"

He didn't immediately reply so she stole a glance at him. He was fiddling with her mitten in his lap.

"Jareth?"

"It's been a very long time since I've been sick," he sneezed. "The last time was around the French Revolution… and well…" he sneezed again. Wiping his drippy nose on his sleeve, he continued. "I remember my mother fussing over me… giving me beggar's stew, reading books, tucking me in… and."

She came to another stoplight. "You want me to take care of you, huh?"

Jareth gave her a watery smile and sneezed again.

Sarah pulled the spare blanket out of the trunk of her car and wrapped it around his shoulders. Leaving the car to idle, she darted inside the store.

Her original list had been much longer but seeing as how there was an invalid in her car, she scrapped all but the necessities. Gatorade, a couple of TV dinners to tide her over until she could come back, soup for him, crackers, aspirin and… she wandered up and down the cold and flu aisle. How would a Fae react to modern Aboveground medicine? She knew he took aspirin for the occasional headache or sore back but that's all she'd ever see him take. What if he had an allergic reaction?

Deciding to keep it simple, and not overload his system with too much, she decided to stick with aspirin and Benadryl to dry out his drippy nose.

On the way to the register she grabbed a box of tea and a few fresh lemons.

Packing her purchases in the trunk she got in her car. "Ugh!" She huffed. It was like a sauna in there. While waiting Jareth had cranked up the heater. He looked dazedly at her and when she felt his forehead again, it was much, much warmer than before.

"Oooh, you're burning up! Come on, let's get you home."

As soon as they were through her front door, Sarah dumped her groceries and ushered Jareth to her bed. "Guys, put the food away, please." Working as one, the goblins formed an assembly line passing the items along.

Taking JC's makeshift poncho off, she shooed him off the coverlet. Jareth sank gratefully onto the mattress with the intention of lying down until she told him to wait. Digging through her closet, she pulled out an oversized men's t-shirt and sweatpants, "'Dad left these here after a visit last winter," she explained. "Put them on; they're clean."

Robotically, Jareth started peeling his clothes off and tossing them on the floor. She could see that they were soaked with sweat. While he was busy with that she went into the kitchen and grabbed the aspirin, Benadryl, and a glass of water.

Shuffling back to her bedroom, Sarah saw that he was already passed out on top of her sheets. "Jareth," she said shaking his shoulder, "you have to take this and then you can sleep. You have a fever."

He mumbled but didn't stir.

Setting the items on her nightstand, Sarah was barely able to pull him into a sitting position. "Hey, mighty Goblin King- I wish you would wake up, right now."

That did it. He woke muttering to himself about 'babies.'

"No, not babies. Medicine- here." She handed him the pills and helped him drink the water. "There you go." She helped him lie back down and tucked the blanket from the foot of the bed around him.

He looked peaceful and still handsome even though he was obviously sick. Not at all like the intimidating baby snatching Goblin King she had first encountered over 7 years ago. He had only been back in her life for the last two years and it happened quite suddenly. He wasn't in her life, then he was. They never talked about her Running and winning his Labyrinth, in fact, they acted like it had never happened, and a friendship was forged.

It wasn't until they had started sleeping together that she worked up the nerve to ask him why he had come back. "I was lonely Sarah, and you are the only person I've ever felt any connection with." He paused for a moment before asking, "What took you so long to ask?"

She played with a bit of his hair that become tangled during their nocturnal activities. "I didn't want to rock the boat. Or upset things. I was happy with the way our friendship was."

"And?" he took her own lock of dark hair and started fiddling with it.

"Well, we've been literally rocking the boat for weeks now. Good time as any, right?"

"Not that. Are you happy now. With us?"

She smiled and kissed him on the mouth. "Yes."

Leaving him to sleep Sarah went to make sure the goblins had put away the food, and not just eaten it. They had for the most part- the cold stuff was in the right places at least. Rearranging the rest, she went to sit on the couch. It would be at least 30 minutes before she could check to see if his fever had broken.

JC came darting past in hot pursuit of a goblin who was shrieking gleefully. A second goblin was perched on his back riding him like one would a miniature horse, which JC didn't seem to mind.

"MRROW." He cried as he stalked his prey. "MRROW" and pounce! He caught the creature between his front paws and proceeded to groom him. Sarah laughed at their antics. The two creatures got along rather well given they were from two different worlds. JC adopted them as fellow cats; and they adopted him as an honorary goblin. (And for some reason, they enjoyed being groomed).

The rest of the goblins were huddled in front of her TV watching an old Tom & Jerry cartoon. Settling into the arm of the couch, Sarah dozed.

An hour later Jareth woke up. Where was he? Why were his clothes itchy? What was this thing on his chest- he felt like he couldn't move. Opening his bleary eyes, he focused on a mountain of fuzz in front of him. "JC," he croaked. Seeing as how the Goblin King was in his bed, JC felt that the only thing to do was to sleep on top of him. (Him being incredibly warm was a plus).

"Move," Jareth pushed the feline off his chest. Ah, better. He could breathe. Now remembering where he was (Sarah's apartment) and why (he was sick), but he still couldn't figure out why his clothes were itchy. Standing up he shuffled over to her floor-length mirror seeing NYU printed boldly across his chest. "NYU, the heck is NYU?" Deciding not to dwell on it, he focused on how he was feeling. Better, definitely better than before, however his feet were cold. Feeling able to perform a little magic he conjured a crystal and let it drop on his feet. "Ah, better."

But where was his Sarah? He found her asleep on the living room couch with the goblins piled on the floor in front of her- also asleep.

He gazed at her lovingly. She was his- after all this time, and all it took was that beast attacking his… person. He winced at the memory; it was extremely painful. And humiliating, but it led him to where he was now, and for that, he wouldn't change things.

Jareth sneezed waking them. "Mmm…? Oh, you're awake," Sarah said as she sat up and stretched. "Are you feeling better?" She got up and checked his forehead. "No temp- that's good." She let her hand slide down caressing his cheek. "Would you like something to eat?"

"Sure."

"Okay I'll make soup. Make yourself comfortable."

He sat in her empty spot on the couch and watched the goblins who were now sitting in a circle playing cards. It looked like a crude form of poker. They were betting cat treats. "Sarah, did you teach them this?"

She looked up from the pot she was stirring. "Yes. I think you were at a big and important meeting or counsel, session or something. I got bored."

Huh, he didn't know they were smart enough to play cards.

Soon the smell of chicken noodle soup filled the apartment making his mouth water. Just as soon as he could bear it no longer, Sarah called "ready," and he proceeded to her dining room table.

As soon as his feet went from carpet to hardwood, a loud Squeak… squeak sounded. He forgot they did that. Squeak… squeak. JC's eyes opened from his position on the back of the couch. "Don't you dare," Jareth said quickly pointing a finger at the cat. That was the last thing he needed.

"Jareth, what's that squeaking?" Sarah asked filling his bowl with soup as he sat down.

He grinned playfully. "Look."

She bent under her side of the table and looked. Back when they were just friends, she had given him a pair of white owl slippers as a silly Christmas present.

She sat up grinning back. "I never thought you'd wear those."

He spooned a bit of soup into his mouth and swallowed. The warmth feeling good. "I love everything that has to do with you Sarah, including squeaking owl slippers." He leveled his empty spoon at her. "However, if you tell anyone about these, I'll tip you into the Bog."

Mirroring his stance and seriousness she retorted "And I'll rub myself Bog and all- all over everything you own. Especially on your favorite pair of pants. They'll stink forever."

"Forever's not that long." He dabbed at his still red nose with a napkin.

"Long enough."

AN: Jareth and Sarah are not mine. They belong to Jim Henson and Co. Not betaed- all errors are mine.

AN2: I might continue this, I might not...