Authors' Note: This fic was inspired by a conversation had while driving home on Valentine's Day. We wrote most of it that night, but getting it polished took much longer than we thought. Our apologies for the delay.
And never fear, the next chapter of Kingdom as Great is also being worked on. We wouldn't leave you on a cliffhanger for this long if we weren't completely swamped with work.
…
Valentine's Day was just another day in mid-February, for many of Sarah's clients. Even the children regarded it as little more than an excuse for candy, if they were lucky enough to have that. So Sarah herself had to work, although it was mostly a paperwork day for her, with no home visits.
No one was surprised when the FedEx driver also brought a few gifts for the other ladies in the office. Kathy and Emily each had a pretty bouquet, but Amy got chocolate-covered roses and was grinning about it.
At least, until an independent florist showed up, with a single wine-red rose in a crystal bud vase. "Sarah Williams?" he said.
"Over here," she called, coming out of her office. The rose was gorgeous, but she'd been holding her breath all morning, wondering what Jareth would concoct. She'd tried not to even mention Valentine's Day around him, but he asked much too casually last night if she was going to be in the office today, so she expected something. This understated, exquisite elegance was unlike him, yet very welcome.
The florist held out a clipboard for her to sign, and as she did so she remarked, "I'm impressed. I expected him to go overboard."
Trading the bud vase for the clipboard, the florist laughed. "Oh, he went overboard all right. I've got two guys downstairs loading the handcart."
"Handcart?" Sarah squeaked, as everyone in the office perked up.
He laughed. "Yep. Twelve hundred roses, coming right up." And while Sarah stood shell-shocked, he headed out, presumably to help with the huge delivery.
Amy's jaw literally dropped. "Twelve hundred? Holy shit!"
Sarah could only stare. Where the hell would they put them? She wouldn't be able to move with that many flowers around!
Meanwhile Kathy whistled. "Twelve hundred roses. On Valentine's Day, when they cost more than any other time of the year. Damn, Sarah, you have to take us back to merry old England with you, hook us up with some noblemen!"
"Twelve hundred," Sarah whispered, and dropped into the nearest chair, still holding her bud vase with the single, perfect rose.
As it turned out, twelve hundred roses were delivered in buckets, placed on every horizontal surface in the office. More than half were red, but the rest came in every shade imaginable, including some Sarah had never seen before. White with red edges, lavender with white edges, red with silvery undersides, white with pink centers, petals streaked with random splashes of red and yellow, even blue roses. There were tiny miniature roses, tightly-furled buds, and huge double-petal blossoms the size of Sarah's hands.
By the time the delivery was finished, which tied up the elevator for most of an hour, the office looked like a florist's shop, and everyone was goggling at the mass of flowers. Florists's roses usually didn't have much scent, but these filled the air with their perfume. Luckily (or perhaps with a little magic on Jareth's part) the scent wasn't cloying.
That was when the candy arrived.
Sarah's coworkers went from amazed to impressed to flatly astounded, as not one but four different chocolatiers delivered their Valentine's Day assortments to Sarah's desk. She immediately set about sharing them (saving the sea salt caramels for herself), shaking her head at Jareth's excess. "Four?" Amy asked, her eyebrow arched up.
Sarah knew her fae king well enough to guess his reasoning. "He doesn't know my favorite, and wouldn't ask because that'd give it away. So he picked four that looked high-end and figured I'd like at least one. When in reality I like all this stuff. Just not all at once! All the leftovers are going in my freezer, if I can make room."
"I'm starting to get seriously jealous here," Emily complained.
Amy nibbled a truffle, and cut Sarah a sly look. "He's really racking up the brownie points, isn't he? If I was gonna bet, I'd say you're either going to end up with a proposal, or some seriously kinky sex at the end of this."
"Don't even joke," she muttered, shaking her head.
They did have actual work to do, so all of them settled down into sugar-fueled productivity. Only Jareth, in typical Goblin King fashion, wasn't done yet.
…
Someone who looked like a waiter showed up promptly at noon, with more well-dressed waitstaff behind him pushing carts that bore fancy covered dishes. Amy, seeing them, assumed it was one of the fancy catered lunches for the law office on the next floor, and tried to tell them so. But no, the card the first man bore said, 'Sarah Williams and Company,' and informed them that the entire company's lunch was catered courtesy of Mr. Jareth Kingsley. He also added that there were options available for anyone who required vegan or gluten-free meals, then began to set up the serving stations. At that point, Kathy just threw up her hands and told them all to take a lunch together, since Sarah's Brit was buying.
By that point, Sarah was getting embarrassed by all the attention. Her friends were frankly envious, even though they got to enjoy the flowers, chocolate, and food themselves. And just when she thought it couldn't possibly get more over the top, a string quartet wearing black tie arrived to accompany their meal with music.
"Oh my fucking God, I'm going to kill him" Sarah groaned, hiding her face, as her coworkers just laughed.
"He doesn't just go over the top, does he?" Amy teased. "He's gone completely out of the stratosphere at this point!"
"Out of his mind, more like," Sarah replied.
Amy drizzled vinaigrette onto her salad, and arched a brow. "I'm telling you, Sarah. Look out tonight. It's either a ring or some handcuffs."
Sarah cut her a sketchy look, and grumbled, "Handcuffs aren't his style."
"Oh, he's more of a rope guy?" Amy taunted, getting laughter from the rest. Sarah flushed – they were decidedly not discussing any magical advantages Jareth might have in that regard. Eventually all of them settled down to a delicious four course meal, without further commentary on Sarah's sex life.
…
Sarah thought he was done, she really did. She was to the point of praying so, having held her figurative breath since after lunch. And it seemed he was, until five thirty, when the man himself arrived, dressed in a suit that made him look even more delicious than his royal regalia. And gloves, as always.
As her coworkers chattered excitedly and eyed him, Jareth leaned in her doorway, grinning lazily. The burgundy dress from her second run hung in a garment bag over his shoulder, a pair of matching pumps hooked over his thumb. "Best hurry, precious," he purred. "Our ride awaits."
"You bought twelve hundred fucking roses, you can pay a cabbie to wait," she replied, but she was blushing with more than embarrassment. All of the attention definitely fed a romantic part of her that she tried, most of the time, to ignore. And just the visual reminder of that dress and what it meant in the scheme of things shook her more than she would admit.
Aren't you going to try to make me reconsider, remind me of the 'gift' you offer?
Is that not what I was doing?
For a moment, Sarah was locked into the memory, so intensely that she startled when Jareth actually spoke aloud. "Cabbie?" Jareth sniffed. "Look out your window, love."
Sarah didn't even get a chance to do so before her nosy coworkers stampeded to the main window outside, and Emily actually yelped. "A horse-drawn carriage? Wow!" A moment later, Sarah saw that there was indeed a carriage, drawn by two white horses, waiting in front of their building.
Amy laughed, "You really take 'treat her like a queen' to a whole new level, don't you?"
My Sarah, my Queen, mine and mine and mine.
"As she deserves," Jareth replied, his strange eyes locked on Sarah, her eyes wide in memory and and in realization of exactly what these gifts were meant to convey. The smile that rose to her lips then was sweet, suddenly grateful for this ridiculous display. She was his Queen, after all, and trust Jareth to celebrate their first official Valentine's together in truly royal style.