Chapter Four: Bus Organs and Bookshelves

"Hey! Are you up yet, Your Highness?"

Jareth rubbed a gloved hand over his face. It wasn't that Sarah's couch wasn't comfortable, but the thoughts of his Labyrinth and subjects burning to death kept his eyes glued to the ceiling all night.

However, the ceiling was much more welcoming with the sun's rays on it and a beautiful face staring down at him.

"Ah Sarah," he purred. "Good morning."

Sarah blushed. Normal people sounded like they had just gargled rocks when they woke up. Jareth sounded like he had soaked his vocal cords in rose water and then painted them with sex.

"Look, breakfast is on the counter. Just stay here for the day. I have work." She turned to leave but Jareth leapt over the back of the couch with the ease of a cat and blocked her way. Sarah glared up at him, pulling her bag tightly over her shoulder. "Move."

"I want to go with you."

"You what?"

"I want to go with you," Jareth repeated patiently. "I think it wise that I remain close to you, in order to protect you."

Sarah's eyebrows knotted. "I can handle it." She moved around him but he leapt in front of her again.

"Jareth! Move!"

"I will not," Jareth growled. He walked forward, pushing Sarah into the back of the couch. Their bodies were only a few centimeters apart.

"Sarah"—his voice drew her attention to his darkening eyes—"Kader nearly killed you. Yes, you were able to beat the spell and pull the dagger out of yourself but you might not get so lucky next time." Sarah made a small noise of disagreement at the word "lucky." He placed a finger to her lips. "No, Sarah. You need to listen to me—for once. Let me protect you. Please."

His eyes poured into hers pleadingly. Sarah blushed again and grumbled, "Fine."

Jareth's face brightened but he held back the smile he wanted to give to her. "Good. Now, we may leave…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Sarah cried, stopping him from moving to the door this time. "You can't go out dressed like that! People will…"

"Swoon? Yes, I suppose you're right." Jareth glanced around the room and moved to the coffee table. Picking up a magazine, he flipped through the pages until he seemed satisfied. "Here we are. Attire fit for a king in disguise."

Sweeping a hand over himself, Jareth's clothes began to shift and wriggle. Leather changed to denim and billowed sleeves shrank to fit the wearer's body. His leather jacket pulled into itself, making a fashionable vest and the tall black boots grew shorter, tucking themselves under the jeans.

"How do I look?" Jareth said, flashing a smile.

Hot. Incredibly sexy. Amazing in those jeans. Possibly edible. "Your gloves," Sarah said, her throat practically strangling itself from wanting to echo what her mind thought.

Jareth studied his hands. "Hmm…a bit more difficult." The gloves pulled themselves in around his wrists and cropped off the fingertips. He watched some of his magic slip from the exposed pieces of flesh but reeled it in easily. He would have to watch that today.

"What was that?" Sarah asked, staring at the Goblin King's hands.

"What was what?"

She studied him carefully. It had felt like as if a ripple of water had vibrated through the room when he shortened his gloves. But, by the way his face was trying to appear innocent she decided there was no reason to push the topic.

"Let's just go," she sighed and made her way out the door.

"Sarah," Jareth said, as she trotted down the stairs ahead of him, "what do you do here?"

"What do you mean 'here'?" She began to exit the stairwell, holding the door open for him.

"Aboveground," he answered.

"I work in a book store."

Jareth seemed to contemplate the worth a book store could be as a workplace. "Any goblins to throw out windows?"

"No."

"How about a bog for those who disobey your command?"

"No."

"What about goblin cannonballs that impale…"

"No! And stop talking about that stuff in public!" She hissed at him as they walked outside. March greeted the couple with a crisp wind and weak sun and Sarah inhaled the city's perfume of coffee shops, over used cologne and morning joggers. Jareth walked gracefully beside her and, from the corner of her eye, she noticed that he had an odd way of fitting in and yet not fit inall at the same time. His blonde hair danced wildly in the March air and his eyes glittered as he took in the city. Sarah suppressed a laugh from the ridiculous position she was in. What killed the ridiculousness of the situation was the idea that some psycho was out to murder her.

Sarah stopped at the corner where the bench to the bus sat with its graffiti body. The bus rolled to a stop at the corner and Sarah stepped into it, flashing her bus pass and dropping some coins in for Jareth. She looked over her shoulder and saw the Goblin King staring at the bus as if it were a mutant beast.

"Come on. We need to hurry or I'll be late," Sarah said, facing him with her hands on her hips.

Jareth took a tentative step towards the rumbling bus and entered warily, flexing his hand agitatedly. Sarah grabbed a hand rail and smirked at him. Jareth chose to stand in the middle of the aisle, as if afraid to touch the inside of the bus or the people in it.

"You might want to hold on to something," Sarah remarked when the bus's doors hissed shut, making Jareth jerk slightly.

He scooted closer to her. "You want me to touch this beast's organs?"

Sarah bit back the giggle that formed at her lips. The bus lurched forward and Jareth's eyes went wide as he lost his balance and fell into Sarah. His arms wrapped around her body as he struggled to regain balance. Sarah struggled to hold herself up as the bus kept lurching forward with a cough. Jareth's hands reached out blindly to the hand rail behind Sarah and he straightened himself up, enjoying how when he did his body moved over Sarah's.

Sarah's face was on fire as Jareth looked down at her with a grin. "Would you get off of me now?"

"It's a bit too cramped in here, my dear. And besides"—his grin remained as he pushed his knee gently between her legs—"I'd rather stay close."

"If you don't want him, honey," a raspy voice said from beside them, "I'll take 'em."

A woman, who looked like she could have been somewhere between twenty and fifty, grinned up at them. Her overly bleached hair, freakishly blue eye shadow and painfully tanned skin made Jareth wince. And people thought the creatures in the Labyrinth were frightening.

Jareth scuttled behind Sarah. "I'll hold onto the beast's organs now."

"Good Goblin King."

The Bookshelf popped up and Sarah pulled Jareth off the bus, making a beeline to the book store. The door jingled as Sarah pushed it open and she waved at the man behind the counter. Putting his glasses onto his head, he nodded at her and said, "You're late."

"Sorry, Marc," she replied, putting her coat on a rack. "My…friend had some issues on the bus."

Marc looked Jareth over who gave Marc his haughty look number eight. This human was a bit too attractive for the King's tastes in Sarah's co-workers. Blue eyes held to the mismatched ones. Marc scratched his head, running fingers through dark red hair.

"Who's your friend?"

"Umm…"

"Never mind," Marc said, standing up and putting the book he was reading back onto a nearby shelf, "just don't get distracted by your 'friend.' I don't want you taken away from your work, understood?"

Sarah nodded her head. "Of course."

"Good." Marc's eyes softened as ruffled Sarah's hair. "What did you do to your hair?"

"It was for an audition." Sarah answered with a smile.

"You're insane." He laughed and shrugged on a coat. "Look, I've got a meeting. I'll bring back some coffee and doughnuts when I'm done though. Strawberry jelly and chocolate, yeah?"

"You know me so well," Sarah replied laughing.

Marc smiled and opened the door. "See you in a bit."

As the door closed, Jareth turned to Sarah who had made herself comfortable behind the counter. "Who was he?"

Sarah looked up in surprise as if to see him there. "My boss, Marc. Why? Think he wants to steal your kingdom or something?"

"As if he would be smart enough," Jareth remarked acidly.

Sarah frowned. "There's no reason to be a prick. He's just being nice."

"Too nice, if you ask me."

"Well no one was asking, were they? So just sit over there, pick something to read and let me do my job." Sarah stood up abruptly and stomped into another room.

Jareth blinked. Why was she the one who was mad? She had no right. Here she was flirting with some red-headed leprechaun and he had risked his life to save her! Insolent woman! Jareth plopped down into the chair closest to him and dangled a leg over the side of the chair, settling himself into his favorite brooding position.

Sarah slammed a few books into the shelves in the children's room. A faerie fell on top of her head and onto the floor. She picked it up and glared down at it. Damn faeries. They're what got her into this whole mess. She gets thrown into another world, has to face dangers untold and then has to deal with an arrogant faerie king brooding in the other room! She plopped onto a bean bag chair and glared more at the faerie plush toy. Its stitched on smile and blue button eyes beamed back at her. Sarah held up her arm as to throw it across the room but then lowered it and set the doll in her lap. It was hard to throw away the small things that reminded her of her mother. She was the one who had started her love of magic in the first place.

The jingling of a bell pulled Sarah from her thoughts. She went back to the main room of the shop and held back the scream that nearly escaped her lips.

Small, terrible looking creatures swarmed Jareth as he fought vainly to pull them off. Sarah grabbed a book off a nearby shelf and threw it at one of the creatures, hitting it squarely on the back of the head. It fell off of Jareth, taking one of its companions with it. The two creatures, who looked like the elves she had seen in the crystal, screeched and glared at Sarah who had already begun to fling other books at the swarm.

Jareth stuck a hand out of the mess of elves. Sarah sprinted forward, grabbed his hand and pulled. Most of the monsters fell off but Sarah had to swat a few off with her book. She looked to Jareth and was about to ask how he was when he pulled her down to the floor.

A sword shot through the air and stung itself into a bookshelf.

"Damn. So close," a smooth voice said.

Jareth glared up at Kader but didn't move from being on top of Sarah. Sarah craned her neck and peered at Kader from her upside down position.

"Swords, Kader? Are you so primeval as to need a human weapon?" Jareth sneered.

Kader raised a delicate eyebrow. "You're one to talk, Goblin King. Are you so primeval as to sleep with a human?"

Sarah felt her face grow hot as she noticed how close Jareth actually was. She could feel his body shake with anger as he practically growled at Kader. Jareth moved off of Sarah, and then pulled her to her feet, pushing the girl behind him.

"No retort? I'm disappointed, Jareth," Kader continued, straightening his jacket. "But I suppose you're just a bit shaken since you've seen what I've been doing to your Labyrinth." He smiled and stepped forward. "You could make this much easier and just give me what I want."

Jareth's hand tightened on Sarah's arm. It wasn't an angry motion but a protective one. Did Kader want her? Sarah's mind tried to swallow the idea but couldn't find a reason for it.

Kader sighed. "No? Well, I suppose we'll just have to do this the hard way." He snapped his fingers and Sarah felt her hair, arms and legs been held painfully back. She was pulled away from Jareth.

Sarah didn't scream as she was pulled back, but instead flailed her arms and legs, scratching or kicking the creatures as they swarmed her.

Jareth dashed towards Sarah. Grabbing her arm, he attempted to wrench her out of the pile of elves. The mutated things dragged him back from the fighting Sarah. Losing his patience now, Jareth's body began to hum with power. Pushing a hand out from the mass of elves, he sent his magic to the bookshelves. The books sprung to life and attacked the elves like angry hummingbirds. Jareth waded through the book-elf war and picked up Sarah. He gave a dark look to where Kader had been standing and began to shake with fury when he saw the coward making his way through a portal that zipped itself closed as the Elf King entered it.

The elves, seeing their master had gone, disappeared too. Popping away to their master one by one, the books had nothing left to attack and fell, dismayed, onto the floor.

"Damn it," Jareth whispered.

"Jareth"—he looked down in surprise, it was the first time she had called him by name—"what aren't you telling me?"

He felt her shaking in his arms. Her voice, however, remained calm. He wanted to pull her tighter to his chest for her bravery but decided now was not the time. He put her back on her feet and said, "I can't tell you, Sarah."

She glared at him. "Can't tell me? Why not? I should know everything if I'm helping you! You can't keep secrets! This isn't like last time, Jareth! We're on the same side."

Jareth said nothing. She couldn't know. Not yet.

"Fine. Fine!" Sarah grabbed her jacket and made for the door. Flipping around, Jareth almost winced at her blazing green eyes. "I'm not helping you until you tell me everything." She pulled at the door ferociously. "And you better clean this up," she yelled over her shoulder.

Jareth stood in the carnage of books. Watching her storm down the street, he whispered to her back, "I would move the stars for you. I just can't tell you how."

Magic was always harder to believe the older you were. He knew that. He'd watched many a child grow from wildly fanciful to scoffing at the idea to even buy a Santa Claus figurine. It was much harder to watch the change in Sarah.

"I can't live within you."