Sarah awoke in the morning to the blaring alarm. With a groggy yawn, she sat up from the bed and thanked God that it was the end of the week. Rubbing her eyes, she noticed that her husband was absent from the bed beside her.

It made her remember the days when he was the one waking her up instead of their alarm clock. A smile tugged at her lips.

She pulled herself out of bed and made to take a shower. The sheets slipped from her figure and pooled onto the floor. Shrugging, she decided to make the bed later, and turned to take a shower.

Once the shower was done she wasted no time in following the smell of coffee to the kitchen. Her hair was slightly damp, which made it appear a more raven color than her usual dark brown locks. She didn't quite need makeup to bring out her green eyes, but had opted to brush just a dash of mascara upon her lashes, along with blush coloring her pale cheeks.

As she finally tracked down the coffee she heard papers rustling in the living room, just adjacent from the entrance of the bright kitchen, and she turned to see Jareth sitting in his 'man chair' pouring over books from the nearby bookshelf. He was stuck in an intense studying session. His brows were furrowed and eyes focused. On the coffee table in front of him lay several open books. Alongside them was a mug that was emitting steam and filled almost to the brim with black coffee.

His figure was entirely absorbed in the book that he held in his hands. Nimble fingers often tracing the lines written in the book when he would get a bit confused. He was dressed already, in a loose white shirt and form fitting pants, his hair fell upon his face in a way that seemed purposefully unintentional. A contradiction, really, but she had always joked that Jareth was a walking contradiction. A man that was so dominating and masculine in personality, yet often was not afraid to be a bit more androgynous in his appearance. He had been both seductive and intimidating when she had ran his labyrinth. They had been enemies before they were lovers.

She took a few steps forward, allowing her presence in the living room to be known.

"Thanks for making coffee," Sarah said. It surprised her that her sudden appearance had not startled him as he had been so consumed in his studying. She watched as Jareth slowly put down the book. His eyes returning to reality and losing their glazed over appearance.

"Good morning," he said and took in her figure. She swept some of her damp locks behind her ear.

"Good morning," she said and turned to the kitchen to grab some coffee. Sarah could feel his eyes roaming her curves. She knew right away when she got up this morning what she wanted to wear. She wore the black pants that had always had a way of accentuating her hourglass figure. Jareth had never been able to resist them, especially when paired with her formfitting green blouse that brought out her eyes and the narrowness of her waist. She'd been lucky to inherit her mother's figure. The right amount of curves in the right places. Of course, it wasn't something that she continually flaunted being a bit modest in nature, but for Jareth…

He enjoyed when she flaunted it.

She'd been bothered recently with the way Jareth had kept his distance from her. It surprised her how little he'd initiated contact with her these last few days, as he had always been a bit respectfully handsy. She found that she missed it.

So, as Sarah faced away from him and began pouring coffee into a mug, she began to stretch gracefully. She lifted her arms over her head as she pretended to yawn, allowing her blouse to reveal a bit of skin, before lowering them again. Leaning forward slightly - and a bit unnecessarily, she placed the coffee pot back on it's holder and grabbed the handle of her mug. Sarah turned back around to see Jareth's eyes trained on her.

It still works, she thought and suppressed a smug grin.

"I have to go into work a bit early today. I trust that you won't get into much trouble?" She asked, lifting a thick brow as she raised her mug to her lips.

He gave her a smug smile, leaning back on the couch in a self assured manner. "Whatever you wish, precious." It seemed he was aware of the game she was playing. And why wouldn't he be? Jareth was centuries older than her and had probably been flirting with women since the moment he'd learned to talk.

She pursed her lips. Paused, then slowly and gracefully walked over to him. As she neared the couch, she leaned forward to his relaxed figure, her green eyes trapping his piercing blue ones in an intense gaze. She pressed her lips to his. A sweeping brush, then a gentle kiss. She heard him inhale sharply as she pulled him in, allowed him to enjoy the kiss for just a few moments, then broke away quickly, leaving only a suggestion of what could have been.

Sarah had to admit that she was a bit proud to have effectively wiped the smirk off his face. He released the breath he had been holding and allowed the cool mask to slip over his face once again.

She found that two contradicting emotions were swirling around in her mind at this sight. The return of his guarded narcissistic persona that she'd worked to hard to break through when they were dating was slightly disappointing… and yet exciting. Jareth was so much more than he let on. He was capable of feeling deeper than most of the men she'd ever known, but he hid it. He hid it well. This mysterious mask that he continuously wore was what had attracted her to him in the first place - it was enthralling and terrifying. It had been the wonder if what she would find when he revealed what was underneath, and if it would be equally beguiling and transfixing.

"I've got to go to work," she said and pulled away from him.

"Sarah," he said. His voice wasn't hurried, it wasn't full of emotion or charged with lust. The way he said her name was entirely dispassionate. She turned back to him.

Before she knew it his hand was grabbing the front of her blouse, his fingers intertwined in the green material, and he was pulling her forward. She found herself awkwardly leaning over the couch as his thin feral lips met hers in a smoldering lust-ridden kiss. Sarah let herself become consumed with him. Taken aback by the force of the kiss as he dominated her.

Then, he released her. His hand that still held onto the front of her shirt gently shoving her away. His face was stoic, not an ounce of cockiness nor lust appeared, but she knew that kiss was meant to prove something. It was meant to prove that he knew the game she had been playing. It was meant to prove that he was much better at it, too. She found herself all at once disappointed that the kiss had ended and frustrated with him.

Oh, she'd get him back for that later.

Sarah gave him a slight smile, plotting her revenge, and simply went to leave the house. She picked up her purse, her coffee mug from the kitchen and her keys and walked to the front door. As she turned to walk out the house, she said nothing, but pressed her hand to her lips and blew him a kiss. Promptly shutting the door behind her.

Later that day found Jareth and Sarah at her parent's house. Sarah joked about how the house had never changed except for the addition of Jareth in their family photos. She said that it would probably always be the same, and gave Jareth a happy little smile at the sentimental thought.

Jareth had asked her to drive, once again, and found that he was slightly a bit more comfortable in the passenger seat this time more than before. Sarah commented on how it seemed his phobia of cars had suddenly made a comeback. He had shrugged it off, hoping she would too, and blamed it on not feeling alert enough to drive recently.

Once they had pulled up to the quaint Victorian house they had both dispersed. Sarah had given her step-mother a few secretive looks that had not escaped Jareth's notice and had disappeared into the kitchen with her. Knowing that he was not wanted, Jareth sought the company of Sarah's little brother. Toby was much more preferred than spending the afternoon with his father-in-law he figured.

"Are you okay?" The older woman asked.

"Yes, I'm fine… It's just," Sarah sighed. She wasn't one to talk about her marriage with other people. They both tended to be a bit private in those regards. However, it was something she wanted to get off her chest. Something that she didn't want to be brushed-off but discussed about, even if it was with a third party. "It's probably nothing. I think it'll go away soon… maybe, but-" She glanced around the kitchen, hoping no one else was listening. "Have you ever had someone completely reset on you?"

"Reset?" Karen frowned. The wrinkles that she had been battling with for years with copious amounts of lotion and skin-care had finally appeared. Though Sarah had always thought her stepmother had natural beauty and carried herself with grace, it was sad to see age finally take hold of her.

"Yes. Reset, as in someone that you seem to know very well and are comfortable with suddenly behaves around you like you're a stranger."

Karen raised her eyebrows, then nodded her head with understanding that came from actual empathy. "I had a best friend do that to me in high school. We stopped talking soon after. Partially my fault, of course. I kissed her boyfriend." She frowned, "That was a mistake."

"Well," Sarah was amused by the information her step-mother had just revealed. She chose to forget about that and move on with the conversation. "Jareth's been acting odd around me. He's guarded, less playful and happy. He's more of the mysterious stranger I met than the husband that occasionally breaks out in song or dance." She tried to think of something that she had perhaps done wrong, but nothing came to mind.

"Hmm," Karen frowned, then wiped off an invisible speck of dirt that she had spotted on the counter top beside her. The kitchen was immaculate. The counter tops and tiled floors had been bleached white and not a thing was out of place around them. "Well," Karen continued, "Perhaps he's trying something?" She shrugged.

"What do you mean? Trying what?"

"Maybe he feels that you liked the 'mysterious stranger' him more? Maybe he thinks he's being appealing to you?"

"I guess, but that wouldn't explain the doubts he's been having." She didn't want to go into the details. No one in her family knew who Jareth actually was, or used to be, at least. They did not know about his magic, so Sarah left out the exact nature of her husband's doubts.

"Doubts? I don't know, Sarah. The best I think you can do is show him that any side of him appeals to you and reassure him."

Well, that wasn't as helpful as Sarah hoped it would be. She nodded, deciding that this conversation wasn't going to go further on this subject. "Well, I better go check on Jareth, anyways. Thanks for the help." Sarah gave Karen a genuine smile and went to look for her husband.

She sighed.

Jareth had found the boy in the backyard digging up dirt with a stick. He had mercy on the poor kid and initiated a game of catch with the boy. Finding a red ball the size of his hand, Jareth was now tossing it to Toby and catching it.

"Tell me, Toby, how well do you know your sister?"

The ball landed in Toby's hands. "Uh, pretty well." The boy threw it back.

Jareth caught it gracefully with one hand. He raised an eyebrow. "Do you now? Did she go to college?" He tossed it.

Toby scoffed. "Yeah, duhhh." He said and missed the ball. It landed in the grass next to him. The boy made a face at it and bent down to retrieve it.

"Hmmm, but I bet you don't know the name of the one she attended, do you?" Jareth spoke with a probing, challenging tone. A challenge he knew the boy couldn't help but meet. He was a Williams, after all.

"I bet I do." He picked up the red ball and clumsily tossed it back at Jareth. "It was a fashion university."

Jareth soaked that in. His Sarah studied fashion? He caught the ball despite the boy's rough throw of it. Jareth leaned forward. "What's her favorite food?" The ball was in the air again.

A catch and another throw back. "Anything but tofu. She even secretly likes meat…" Toby half-whispered as if he was conspiring with Jareth.

Jareth caught the ball and held it behind his back. "What's my favorite food?" He said, just to keep the game fun and throw the boy off a little. He gave the boy a friendly smile.

Toby smirked at him. "Sarah already told me you have a sweet tooth. She says you like anything with sugar in it and then with added sugar on top of it." He wrinkled his nose.

"I do." Jareth said, and threw the ball back. It was no secret that fae had a love for sweets. "Her favorite color?"

"Uh, blueee, duh." The ball bounced out of the boys hands when he tried to catch it. It rolled when it hit the grass.

"Current occupation?" Jareth asked and crossed his arms, waiting for the boy to retrieve the ball again.

Toby frowned. "I dunno, making cookies in the kitchen with my mom, prolly." He picked up the ball and the game resumed.

"I was meaning place of employment."

Catch.

Throw.

"Oh, something about magazines and editing. I dunno." Toby caught the ball and threw it back. Just then the back door opened and caught Jareth's attention.

Sarah stood, her hands holding the door frame and the sun shining in her eyes. For the first time, Jareth saw how the green material of her shirt complimented her figure. He saw how the rays lit her hair and made the dark locks appear almost golden with a hint of red. Her hair was wavy today, something he hadn't noticed this morning. The locks framed her face, the curls making her appearance very feminine and brought out her stunning natural beauty. Perhaps she had changed it right after work?

Her piercing green eyes searched the backyard then froze when her gaze settled upon Jareth. They held eye contact and he was reminded of the time when she had ran the labyrinth. When he had cornered her in the tunnels…

"Awh, man, Jareth. C'mon the ball went right by your head." Toby chastised him and successfully pulled him from his thoughts.

"You guys wanna come inside?" Sarah called out to them. "Karen is deciding what we're going to make for the Christmas dinner, and she said she wants you to invite some friends over, Toby. We're giving them two weeks notice."

That night they'd gone home in absolute silence. Not the comfortable silence, unfortunately, but the silence that accompanies an unresolved argument. They had gotten into it over the guest list. Their heated argument had started with confused whispers when Sarah had inquired as to why Jareth hadn't wanted to invite his co-worker Walter.

She had said that he'd always invited Walter, and he had replied that he couldn't bear one more minute with the intolerable man. Then suddenly they were caught in an awkward position when Sarah's parents had walked in on them bickering, essentially ending the fight.

When they'd gotten back to the house, Sarah had let out a long, drawn-out sigh and made to enter the bedroom. Jareth stopped her.

He debated telling her. Telling her everything. The dangers of revealing that this realm wasn't exactly real were weighing in his mind against making Sarah so confused and even miserable. He opened his mouth, and that's as far as he got.

Time stood still once again. Sarah was stuck in a pose with her hand on the doorframe, looking back at him over her shoulder. Jareth felt the beginnings of indignation flare up.

"Spirit." He greeted without warmth.

The room was deathly silent for a moment. Then, a voice spoke out. "You majesty."

He glared.

The voice continued on, ignoring the former Goblin King's displeasure. "This is a test. You will not speak of the test to any other, or else you shall fail and will repeat the test once again until you learn the lesson."

"You must give me more than this," Jareth growled. His computer was entirely too calm. But his eyes were alight with anger. This was, some would say, when the Goblin King was the most dangerous.

The voice was quiet for a moment longer, then spoke again. "In order to fit in you must adapt - and learn. It will help towards the lesson. In this universe your brother rules the kingdom. You are allowed to speak to him and only him of this… As for the champion, she is key. See what you need to see, this is a glimpse of what you could have and what you will change."

"Why are you professing that there is a lesson I must learn?"

"Tonight, when you sleep, you will receive a glimpse of why. It is something that I have kept from you until now. Tomorrow, you are allowed enough magic to contact your brother. The magic will not work for anything else.

"Good night your majesty." The voice faded.

The world remained silent for a moment, then present time resumed and Jareth watched as Sarah turned towards him.

"Yes?" She said.

He froze, then recovered before she could see. "... I suppose it is acceptable to invite Walter," Jareth said. He didn't like it one bit, but he certainly couldn't tell Sarah what he originally was going to say.

She frowned at him, as if to express just how thoroughly confusing she found him, then entered the master bedroom. He followed her, surprising her.

They took turns using the bathroom and readying for bed. Jareth did not enjoy sleeping on the couch and was quiet ready to be back in a real bed - preferably his bed, but that was not an option at the moment.

As he changed, he glanced up in the mirror. Still a bit miffed on how short his hair was. The length of it had always been one of his main sources of pride. Shrugging it off, Jareth decided that there were some things about this second life that he would never get accustomed to…

That night as Sarah lay sleeping peacefully beside him, he tossed and turned in his sleep.

Snippets of images, dreams and memories were being revealed to him… Only a few of these would he remember come morning.

Author's Note: So sorry for being late in updating. I was extremely burnt out and I think that caused quite a bit of writer's block. But I'm doing well now and I has updates. ;)

I kinda imagine Sarah in this story as how Jennifer Connelly was in A Beautiful Mind. I keep wondering how Sarah's personality would be at this age. I guess one could define her as a bit of an idealist and a person that's always thinking about what is right and what is wrong in the original movie, so that's what I'm going with. A few other tidbits of her personality that's not mentioned in the movie is taken from little facts of Jennifer Connelly. Like religion-wise (though I don't like to touch too heavily on that in my stories since everyone has their own opinions on that) I guess she'd be some sort of mix of Catholic/Jewish since Jennifer Connelly is said to be, as well. Apparently she's vegan so I briefly touched on that, too. I probably won't drag too much of the actresses personality into this, though, 'cause then it'd feel like reading a research paper, lol.

I really like researching.

Also, I found this article the other day about how the show Jessica Jones reminds them of Labyrinth. With Jessica being Sarah (the tough female lead) and Hope being Toby (the innocent). There's a bad dude that's obsessed with Jessica and he's British, so I guess that's why it reminds this person of labyrinth so much. Anyways, I started watching it on Netflix and have totally been sucked into it. I'd recommend it. It's M-rated though, in case you're a bit sensitive to that stuff, but it's not really 'too much'.

Reviews:

Whack-the-beetle - Lol, it's great isn't it? It's like a Groundhog Day universe, I suppose. He's the only one that knows that the world isn't how it's supposed to be. It'd be entirely frustrating, I think. Also, wasn't there a labyrinth story that was like Groundhog Day? I really liked that one but it's unfinished. Anyways, thank you for reviewing! :)

MyraValhallah - Yeah, lol. I guess it's very helpful to all the other fae migrating up to the Aboveground. Haha, thanks for your review! :)

KBates - Yeah, he's gonna have to deal with that now. Imagine being a king and then suddenly you're a secretary. So, it's not just the downgrade in payment, but also in treatment. Figured it'd be a funny twist. Thanks for reviewing!

Akatsuki Demon Kiera666 - I think within time he'll get used to it/familiar with it, but I don't think Jareth really wants his life to play out this way. He'll learn some lessons and stuff will happen. We'll see, lol. Thank you for reviewing! :)

Redwood Manning - Awe, thank you! Glad you like it. Sorry for waiting so long to update it. :( I promise I'll be better. I hope. Thank you for leaving a review! :)

Anneige - Happy to hear you're enjoying it! Yeah, I 'hand-waved' that. Basically, Sarah drove him the day before and he was just as nervous, lol. Perhaps I should do a scene with him taking a bus, hahah. That's a great idea. And yes, ideally he'd be allowed to do that, but the labyrinth has gone full-out punishment mode and wants him to pretend. It'll get the point of the lesson out sooner than if he said he had amnesia because no one would be treating him any differently or doting on him. Plus, in most stories fae cannot tell a lie. I hope that explains it, but it really was a good suggestion. Thanks for reviewing, Anneige!