Sarah spent the entire day waiting around in her apartment and she couldn't help but feel increasingly nervous about what would happen later that night. Why did Jareth have to be so damn vague? she thought with a frown. If she knew more about what had been planned for the evening then she'd have far less cause to be anxious about it.

As it was, the only thing she had to preoccupy her mind with was what she should wear. Unfortunately, that hadn't been detailed in Jareth's note. She'd virtually turned her wardrobe upside down in an attempt to find something suitable, but had come up with nothing. What the hell am I supposed to wear to dinner with a fae king and two Norse Gods anyway? she wondered as she filtered through pretty much every item of clothing that she owned.

In fact, Sarah was about to give up when her doorbell rang. Curiously, she opened the door, only to find a cream box tied with black ribbon set on the floor outside. She picked it up and read the tag, her eyes trailing over her name written in a familiar cursive script. Sarah rolled her eyes and brought the box inside. Jareth sure loves his black ribbon, she thought as she untied the bow.

Sarah stared blankly at the present that Jareth had sent her. It was a dress- but not an ordinary dress like any she would have chosen to wear during a normal dinner. This was a gown that puffed out much like the one he'd conjured for her during their drug-induced ballroom dance. Only this one was a deep red instead of white and it was far less modest. It was sleeveless, and the bodice looked as if it would hug her form more tightly than she would have liked.

She looked at the dress for quite a while, contemplating not wearing it. She thought about it and reconsidered again, but then just slipped into it anyway. If she didn't, then Sarah was damn near certain that Jareth would find a way to get her into it anyway. There was also the fact that she had already discovered she had absolutely nothing to wear otherwise that had her pulling herself into the yards of material.

A knock at the door distracted Sarah as soon as she'd fastened herself into the dress. She looked over at it, wondering who would be knocking; she didn't usually have a flow of visitors. With a small frown, she opened the door to find Jareth standing on the other side.

"It's not like you to knock," Sarah said dryly.

The Goblin King smirked, leaning his arm against the door frame.

"In the interest of keeping this evening running smoothly, I thought it best," he replied with a shrug.

The two of them just stood there for a long moment, until Jareth said, "The next step would be for you to invite me in."

At that, Sarah blinked and slowly moved aside allowing him to enter her apartment. It felt odd to have to invite Jareth inside; usually he just found a way to poof into her apartment without her knowledge. Jareth's smirk remained in place as he walked inside, and Sarah closed the door behind.

"I see that you received my gift," he said.

Sarah looked down at herself and instantly felt self-conscious under his intense gaze. She was still a little uncomfortable wearing the Goblin King's choice of clothing; and even more so when Jareth grinned to himself whilst looking over her.

"Well, it certainly is fitting," he added.

She narrowed her eyes at the way he said 'fitting' and smoothly folded her arms over her chest. Still being a pervert then, she thought to herself.

Though Jareth recovered himself by adding, "It would be more so should you accept my proposal however."

Sarah rolled her eyes.

"You said no inappropriate advances, Jareth."

"That's not inappropriate; I was merely making a comment," he reasoned.

"Yeah, well. Don't."

"If you insist," he shrugged. "Now, shall we be getting along?"

Sarah pursed her lips for a second before nodding. There was a moment of silence in which Sarah waited for Jareth to do something, but Jareth just smiled to himself.

"Because you're mortal, you have to wish yourself Underground, Sarah," he explained.

"Oh," she murmured. "Right."

Sarah bit her lip and thought for a moment. She knew that she had to choose her words very carefully if she was making a wish- she didn't want any loopholes that would leave her stranded in the Underground with Jareth lording her mistake over her.

"May I have your word that you will bring me back Aboveground whenever I ask, regardless of any situation or rules that should try to negate my return?"

Jareth stared for a moment. She had thought that through.

"Very well; you have my word, Sarah."

"Good," she said, offering him a small smile.

She felt a lot better about the evening now that she knew she'd be able to get back home whenever she wanted to.

"I wish the Goblin King would take me to the Underground."

Jareth wound an arm around Sarah's waist, giving her a smirk as he did so. She just frowned in response as the two of them disappeared from Sarah's apartment in a glittery haze.

Jareth had left Loki and Sigyn in the dining room while he went to fetch Sarah, though he had made sure to seat them on separate sides of a square table before he left. It was an odd arrangement, but Sigyn guessed that it had probably been set up that way on purpose.

With her and Loki sat next to each other, that meant that Sarah would be sat beside Jareth whatever the matter- and it wouldn't look too suspicious. Sigyn would bet anything that that was Jareth's game- to not make his attempts to court Sarah obvious. That sounds like something that Loki would do, Sigyn thought.

It seemed that the Goblin King was trying very hard in his wooing of the Midgardian girl. Sigyn smiled to herself. It amused her that she was calling Sarah a girl, when outwardly she appeared not much older herself. Pondering on her expression, Loki looked at her quizzically but she shook her head.

He let the matter drop and instead asked, "I have a feeling that Jareth will be pulling out all the stops tonight."

She raised an eyebrow.

"If he's brought the two of us in as reinforcements at dinner then he must really want things with Sarah to work."

Loki shrugged.

"Just food for thought," he added dismissively.

Sigyn frowned a little. Now why did he have to put that into my head? Knowing that Jareth actually really wanted things to work with the mortal girl just made Sigyn's 'job' for the evening that little bit harder. She sighed to herself and quickly turned her thoughts away from the matter.

"How are you going to manage an evening without coming up some sort of mischief?" she asked her husband quietly.

To that, Loki smiled.

"I never promised there would be no mischief, love. Just no tricks."

Sigyn stared for a moment. Jareth's really going to regret bringing us here, she thought, eyeing the expression on Loki's face.

"I can't take you anywhere, can I?"

Loki chuckled to himself before replying, "Why, love? I'm just being myself, after all."

Sigyn gave a sympathetic smile for the absent Goblin King and said, "Poor Jareth."

Loki just beamed back and said, "He knew what he was getting himself into when he brought us here. Besides, I'm not going to do anything to harm the evening, I'm planning only to make it slightly more... eventful."

Now down in the Underground, Jareth had insisted on holding Sarah's hand as he walked her to where they would dine. She found it a little odd, because it was almost as if Jareth was trying to act gentlemanly for once. Sarah suspected that he had probably modified his behaviour because of the presence of his other guests and she didn't like it. At least she knew what to expect when Jareth acted as he normally did- even if she didn't like it sometimes.

In truth though, Sarah was more nervous about meeting Jareth's 'friends' than about his odd actions; but she couldn't help but feel a little curious too. What a party story this would be. She'd be one of the only people that could say that she'd had dinner with the Goblin King, the Norse God of Mischief and Lies and the Norse Goddess of Fidelity. Of course, if she ever tried to tell anyone that then they'd think she was crazy- but still.

Jareth was looking at her as he walked her towards the dining hall where he'd left Loki and Sigyn. To bring Sarah out of her thoughts, he brought her hand up to his lips and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. That certainly pulled her back to reality. Jareth smirked to himself.

"Nervous, Sarah?" he asked.

She blinked and tried to cover up any nervousness that she might outwardly be displaying. The last thing she needed was for Jareth to play on her anxiety.

"No," Sarah answered a little too quickly.

Jareth said nothing, but continued to smirk to himself. And all Sarah could do then was roll her eyes.

Author's Note: Soooooo, Loki has mischief planned, Sigyn has a job to do, Jareth has some wooing to do, and Sarah's got no idea. Dinner time should be fun. ;)

Also, just got a bit too excited because Jareth appeared on the Big Fat Quiz of the 80s. I think I was a little bit too happy. :D Dunno why I felt the need to tell you all, but hey, why not? ;)

Kit xx