Jareth barely slept that night; he didn't require much sleep anyway, but he just lay awake thinking about Sarah. This was the first night they had been apart for almost a year, and he missed her. More than that, he was worried about her; her energy was weakening and she was always exhausted. He'd checked on her three times that night, concerned that Juturna would try and hurt her. He wondered if love was making him irrational.

He had always wanted to make Sarah his wife, and he felt like the time was finally right to propose. They had been together long enough that what the human's referred to as the "honeymoon" phase had worn off, but he was still utterly captivated by her. He was addicted to her, and he was sure he could never get enough of her.

It was more than physical though; she was everything he had hoped for in a partner, but thought he'd never find. She was kind, considerate of others but not to the point where she didn't take care of herself. She made him laugh and above all things, she wasn't afraid to be herself.

He was nervous about telling his father. Some Fae disproved of relationships with mortals, and he had certainly had words with his father in the past about the amount of lovers he had Above. Jareth wasn't sure if his problem had been that they were mortal or that his son was a "promiscuous cad with the morals of an alley cat". He believed those were the words his father had used. That was years before, and there had never been talk of marriage. Jareth hoped that his father had mellowed in his old age.

Although Jareth was King, he still needed his father's approval as the High King. If he said no to the match, Jareth would be under pressure to end his relationship with Sarah. He couldn't do that; not only would it destroy him, but she would die if he left her before the transformation was complete.

As the sun rose and the castle began to stir, Jareth let another crystal appear between his finger tips. It was 8am Above, and he watched as Sarah woke and groggily called her office to let them know she wouldn't be in. Then, after a quick trip to the bathroom (which he obviously didn't watch, he wasn't a pervert) she fell back to sleep. She looked better already, Jareth thought. Sleep was a marvelous healer.

He had hoped that Sarah would be further along in the transformation by now; it was becoming a strain spending so much time Above, and it would be nice if they could spend the odd night in the Goblin City to ease the pressure. The more time he spent away, the more chance there was for treachery. He would not risk her safety in that way, not for a second.

Finally, it was ten. Jareth took himself to the door leading to his father's chamber. Knocking on the door, he was surprised - and irritated - to see Juturna answer the door.

"Brother. What a pleasure." Juturna said sneeringly. She was dressed more casually than she had been the previous night, wearing a plain brown dress that made her look even more drab than usual. Her hair was pulled tight away from her face; really, it made her look severe and harsh - a perfect reflection of her personality, Jareth thought.

"You can't have had much pleasure in your life, then." He replied, entering the room without waiting for her to invite him in. He turned around, not seeing his father. "Where's Father?"

"I'm here, I'm here." His father sat in a chair wedged behind a pillar, not properly dressed and looking dreadful. "Nice to see you're on time. Your mother's gone to see the babe, we can't keep her away. Juturna was just telling me of the plans for later."

"Well if you're finished, I wish to speak with you alone Father. It is a matter of some delicacy." Jareth told his father, seeing Juturna roll her eyes. He glared at her. They were reduced to bickering infants in each others company.

"I have better things to do than listen to anything delicate to do with you, dear brother. I shall leave and make sure the arrangements are all in place. Twelve o'clock in the ancient meadow." She told the two Kings, stalking out of the room and letting the heavy wooden door slam shut behind her. Hefyed held his head dramatically, groaning.

"I wish you two would settle things. You're both so damn loud." He muttered, taking a deep drink of water. Jareth eyed him with disdain.

"Perhaps if you'd had a little less ale last night, we wouldn't bother you so much."

"Don't mention ale." His father said, closing his eyes. "That Elvish stuff is too strong."

"When you're finished feeling sorry for yourself, there is something rather important I need to ask you."

"It's about your mortal, isn't it?" Hefeyd asked, still rubbing his temples. Jareth sat down opposite him heavily, feeling irritated.

"Juturna told you." He stated, folding his arms. It was no surprise at all that his sister had run to their father at the first opportunity. Jareth wouldn't have been surprised if she had her ear pressed against the door as they spoke. "I wondered how long she could keep that to herself."

"Mmm, just then. She really does love to stick that nose of hers in other people's business." His father said, and Jareth couldn't tell if he was amused or irritated.

"Indeed. I didn't tell her about it, she was watching me in a crystal. A nasty habit, spying on others." Jareth said pointedly, getting up and walking around the room aimlessly. There wasn't much to see, but sitting still for too long irritated him.

"I'll speak to her about it. She tells me you've marked a human. Is it true?" Jareth turned to face his father, who was staring straight at him. Jareth hesitated for a moment before nodding.

"I have. What of it?" Jareth asked haughtily, his eyes chalenging his father to question him. He would not stand for any criticism of his choice, and there was no way in hell anyone could change his mind. He had always been stubborn, but when it came to Sarah, he would carry a mountain on his back before giving her up.

"Is it serious? Another one of your fancies?" Hefeyd asked, well aware of Jareth's penchant for women. It was no secret at all that Jareth had made the most of being a bachelor; in the past, there had been rumours that a different woman emerged from his bedchamber every morning. The Fae were promiscuous, but Jareth lacked the discretion needed for royalty.

"Not at all. I love her."

"You've said that before."

"It's different. I've been living with her Above for nearly a year. Every night. Nobody else, just her."

"Well, haven't you matured." His father said sarcastically. "It's about time you grew up and accepted your responsibilities as King. This obsession you have with humans and living Above is ridiculous, especially when you have a kingdom to run. There are countless Fae that would give everything to be with you. You've certainly tried a few on for size."

"They are boring." Jareth said stubbornly. "Vain little airheads with a lust for power, all of them."

"And your fancy thing, does she want to be Queen?"

"She wants me." Jareth said simply. He smiled as he thought of Sarah, happy living their ordinary life together. "That's all she wants."

"Tell me about your human. Tell me why you love her." Hefyed had always tried to understand his son. Jareth knew he was lucky to have a fairly forgiving father; he had given him the throne even after criticizing his debauchery above.

"Her name is Sarah. She's twenty one. She works in publishing. She loves watching clouds move across the sky, and she hates English weather. She cries when she sees stray dogs, she laughs when she sees pigeons stealing people's food. She never asks for anything, and yet she gives me everything even though I do not deserve it." He took a shaky breath; he was babbling and he looked to see if his father wanted him to stop.

The old man was listening intently, and waved his hand to tell him to go on.

"I want to give her the world, I want her to be the mother of my children. I wish to share my life with her, my whole life. She's willing to give up her mortality, to become something completely different out of love for me. It is causing her difficulties and she never complains or even tells me because she doesn't want to worry me. She is my soulmate, I knew the very first time that I saw her that we were destined to be one."

"A very convincing speech. Is that why you came here, to tell me you were in love with a human?" Hefeyd said, getting up and pouring some water into a glass. He grasped his head, groaning. Jareth eyed his father warily, wondering if he had been listening at all.

"I wish to marry her, is that not obvious? As you're the High King I require your blessing before I propose."

"Marry her? Jareth, she is a mortal. I assumed you just wished her to be your official mistress."

"The transformation has begun, and it should become more powerful any time now. She will be a Fae in hardly any time at all." Jareth enthused, and his father scoffed.

"Not a true Fae. She may find it difficult to find acceptance in our society. As would your children."

"My society is full of Goblins, dwarves and things that I'm not even sure what they are. They all love her, and it is the opinion of the Goblin Kingdom that I value, not the Fae. I have no doubt that she will make an excellent queen, and that they will follow her unwaveringly."

"She's been to your Kingdom?" Hyefed asked in surprise. "If she's not yet Fae, the magic would be too strong for her to withstand for long."

"She was there as a runner." Jareth admitted, and his father raised an eyebrow. "She defeated the Labyrinth." His father stood, and walked around the room a few times in silence. Jareth watched him carefully from his chair.

"She defeated the Labyrinth? Why was I not informed of this?" His voice was terse, and Jareth could see his fists balled by his side.

"It did not concern you. You were off somewhere with Mother. The news did not spread, no harm was done."

"If someone defeated the Labyrinth, there is a major weakness within it. Within you as King. The link between you and the Labyrinth should have been strong enough that thirteen hours would be enough for the runner to give up." Jareth thought it best that he didn't mention Sarah had actually done it in less.

"There is no weakness, in either the Labyrinth or it's King." Jareth said sharply, leaning forward defensively. "She was meant to defeat it, it was fate. Somebody had to win eventually."

"You allowed her to win. You shirked your duty. You betrayed your Kingdom for the sake of your lust."

"I assure you I played my part rather well, Father. Her will was too strong; she was a clever little thing. I fell in love with her, yes, but I did not let her win. She did that on her own." Jareth decided not to mention the help she'd gotten from her little friends. "I did nothing for six years after she left the Labyrinth; if I truly wanted her because of lust, I would have just imprisoned her."

"I would like your mother and I to meet her, before I make my decision."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"Why?"

"I believe Mother would scare her off." Jareth said lightly, knowing how excited his mother would be at the prospect of her son finally settling down, especially with someone who could give him more than one child. "You'll have to come Above if you wish to meet her. I am not prepared to bring her Underground until the wedding. I promised her a normal life, at least for a while."

"A normal life? Honestly Jareth, you know my feelings about you playing at being human. This whole situation is absurd."

"I don't see what's absurd about it; you have always wanted me to marry. Now I shall. Once we are married we will spend the majority of our time in the Goblin City. Is it wrong to marry for love rather than political gain?"

"Not wrong," his father said, sitting back down. "Just unusual."

"Don't tell mother today. I don't wish Juturna to know until the announcement is made, though if she continues to spy on me I'm sure she'll know by the time I leave this room."

"I will talk to her about the spying." His father said firmly. "Spying on one's enemies is justified, but we are a family and I will remind her of that. I'll tell your mother of your plans when we return home. If that's all you wished to discuss, I think we had both better get ready for this naming ceremony."

"I name the child Alaric, Prince of the Western Elf Lands."

Jareth watched indifferently as the Elf High Priest held the screaming naked child aloft. Really, there was no dignity in being a baby.

His sister had attempted to look regal, wearing a purple gown and weaving her hair with twigs and leaves. Whilst this looked fine on Elvish women, it only managed to make Juturna look as if she had been through a hedge backwards.

Elvish naming ceremonies were long and tedious, and this one lasted until the early hours of the morning. There was yet another feast, and Jareth managed to avoid talking to his sister or her husband, by either talking to his mother's friends or simply hiding behind a tree. He knew it wasn't very regal to hide behind trees, but there were so many in this particular field that it seemed like the easy option.

When his father finally left, Jareth took himself back to the Goblin Kingdom without saying goodbye. It was a relief to be out of his sister's grasp, but he was only in his castle to kill time.

Jareth had someone else he needed to see.

He was desperate to get back to Sarah, but there was an Aboveground tradition he needed to keep. Sarah was obsessed with tradition and superstitions, and he knew it would mean a lot to her if he asked her father for permission to marry her. Jareth didn't see the point himself; the man had been so rude to his daughter that Jareth didn't care whether he blessed the marriage or not.

He closed his eyes, and tried to remember where her father worked. Opening his eyes, he saw that he was on a quiet street, standing by a door marked "Robert Williams - Attorney" and was pleased that he had remembered. He quickly checked his reflection in the window to make sure that the glamour he always used was in place. He didn't think Sarah's father would approve of him anyway, but having long hair and sparkly eye makeup might be pushing it a bit too far. Pushing the door open, he walked into the lobby.

"Excuse me sir, may I help you?" In the foyer of Robert's office was a blonde receptionist, sitting behind a desk. She looked at him with narrowed eyes, and Jareth did his best to be charming.

"Yes, I'd like to see Mr Williams."

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No, this is a personal visit."

"He's busy at the moment. What's your name? I'll let him know that you're here."

"Jareth King."

"One moment Mr King." The receptionist got up and disappeared round the corner. He heard her knock on a door, and the murmuring of voices. She came back with a confused look on her face. "He'll see you now."

"Thank you so much." He replied smoothly, and she lead him to Robert's office.

He had never met Sarah's father, though he had seen photographs. He was standing up behind a desk, and he was a most imposing figure. He looked nothing like her, tall and stern. Of course, he may have just looked stern because of the present company, Jareth thought. Jareth heard the door close behind him.

"So you're Jareth." It was a statement rather than a question.

"Yes, Sir."

"Don't call me Sir. You look the same age as me."

"I'm thirty six." That was the age he and Sarah had decided was most plausible when he'd met her mother. Her father was in his late forties, so Sarah had decided it was important there was enough distance between their ages that things didn't get creepy. Of course, considering Jareth was almost sixteen hundred years old, he was old enough to be her great grandfather several times over.

"Hmm. I must admit I'm surprised to see you. I haven't spoken to Sarah in months."

"I know. She's most upset about it."

"I'm most upset" his voice mocked Jareth's accent "about her shacking up with some guy twice her age in a foreign country." He retorted, and Jareth had to do his best to remain charming. He'd never had to impress a girl's father before, and this was an uphill battle.

"I assure you I treat your daughter with the utmost respect. That's why I've come here today. I was in the area on business." He said lightly. "May I sit?"

"Go ahead."

"I won't waste your time with pleasantries, I'll get to the point. I wish to marry Sarah."

"I don't know why you're telling me, she doesn't give two hoots about what I think."

"Oh, she does. She puts more value into your opinion of her than she does into her own. She craves your approval."

"She hasn't done much to warrant it. Dropping out of college, running away to London..I want the best for her, but she has failed time after time." Jareth bristled at this, but he kept his cool.

"Not failed. She has changed her path, that's all. She is thriving."

"Her mother tells me she's doing quite well." His voice was stiff, and Jareth wondered if he was really so against talking to Sarah that he had been frequently talking with his ex wife instead. Sarah had told him her mother and father hadn't spoken for years, so to hear that they had been talking regularly was a surprise.

"I'm sure Sarah would tell you the details if you called her."

"If you've come here to tell me to call my daughter, you're wasting your time. I've tried to talk to her.."

"No, you haven't. You've tried to tell her what to do, and she refused to listen. That's not the same as trying to talk to her."

"She's twenty one years old, she won't listen to me, she won't be reasonable. She's too young to get married. I married her mother at that age, she was too flighty, too immature for marriage. Sarah's very like her mother."

"I know Linda very well." Jareth told him. "She and Sarah are alike, but not in every way. If you'll allow me to say, I think you're so hard on Sarah because of the resemblance between her and her mother. If you stopped seeing her as Linda and started seeing her as Sarah, you might see what a wonderful daughter you have."

"You think I don't know that she's wonderful?" Robert asked. "She's my daughter and I love her."

"If you do, you have a funny way of showing it." Jareth said scathingly. "Every time she makes an effort to speak to you, she ends up sitting by the phone in tears. Most people would have given up trying by now, but I know she still wants to contact you. That's why I came here today - to have your approval of our relationship would mean everything to her."

"I don't give you my approval. I think her getting married aged twenty one would mean her getting divorced by twenty three and that's not what I want for her. I'm a lawyer, Mr King. I see this kind of thing all the time."

Jareth sighed - he had expected it to be difficult; Sarah certainly got her stubbornness from somewhere.

"Very well. I can accept that, you barely know me from Adam. I don't care whether you give me your permission or not, I love your daughter and I intend to let her make the decision of whether or not she wants to marry me. I would ask one thing though - please talk to Sarah. It would mean so much to her to hear from you. I know she misses young Toby terribly."

"She's all he talks about." Robert admitted, shifting uncomfortably. "I didn't give him the birthday or Christmas gifts she sent him."

"She suspected as much." In fact, he had summoned crystals on both occasions at her request. They and watched as the man had lied and told the young boy that his sister had forgotten him. The look on Toby's face made Sarah break down crying.

"When are you going to ask her?" Robert asked, frowning.

"Soon. I haven't decided when, but it will be within the month."

"Let me think about it. You obviously care about her." He said begrudgingly. "Her mother tells me she has a steady job now. I suppose that's something."

"She does. She's very good at it, too. She's writing a novel as well. You have a very hard working daughter, Mr Williams."

"Perhaps I should call her."

"Yes. Call her tomorrow." Jareth wanted to see her first. "But, if you would, don't tell her I visited you today. I'd prefer to keep the proposal a surprise, and she'll get upset if she thinks I've been interfering."

"I still haven't given you my permission."

"I don't require your permission. I merely wished to seek it."

Time differences meant that by the time he finally reached London, it was late Wednesday afternoon. The heatwave had broken, and summer rain was pouring down outside. He appeared silently in the living room of their home, and smiled at the sight of Sarah watching television. He coughed lightly, and she jumped.

"You're home!" Sarah ran at him, jumping onto him and hooking her legs round his hips. She kissed him happily, cupping his face and squishing his cheeks together, something that he hated but she loved. "I never thought I'd miss you so much. Don't leave me again." He kissed her deeply, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. He had forgotten to undo the glamour, and he still had short hair. Sarah pulled away and looked at him suspiciously. "Where have you been? Did you go somewhere else Above instead of coming straight home to me?"

"No, love. I missed you too. You seem brighter." Her skin had lost the pallid dullness that had been there for several weeks, and her eyes shone. She was dressed in pyjamas, but she didn't seem as exhausted.

"I feel so much better. You were right, I guess I was a little tired. I didn't even notice it."

"Let me look at you properly." He put her down and ran his eyes over her carefully. Removing his gloves, he placed a hand over her heart. He closed his eyes, concentrating. Beneath his palm, he could sense her magic gathering underneath her skin in response to his. "I can feel it Sarah." He whispered, hardly daring to believe it.

"Feel what?"

"The magic. It's strong, when I left there was nothing at all. This is amazing." He said breathlessly, trying to understand how it had happened so quickly.

"Is it? I don't feel anything. Must have been all that sleep I had." Sarah shrugged, resting her head on his shoulder. She stroked his arm lazily, running her fingers down to his bare hands. He curled his fingers around hers, bringing her hand to his lips and kissing it fondly.

"Maybe." Jareth thought it was a little sudden for such a drastic surge in power. "I need to check that the protection spells are still in place." He let go of her hand and moved to walk away from her, but she had other plans.

"Wait." Sarah said, pulling him to her by his shirt collar. "You've been away for two whole days. If we wait much longer to make love, the magic might begin to fade..so really, you should take me to bed right now. Just to make sure I don't die." She said, feigning concern. He grinned wolfishly at her, and scooped her up in his arms. She laughed, throwing her arms round him to steady herself.

"Well, if it's a matter of life and death, I really mustn't delay."

A/N: Thanks so much for all your reviews. I don't have anything written for the next chapter yet and I go back to work next week, so the updates might slow down a bit. Thanks for all your feedback! Suggestions for what you would like to see are welcome. Guest, thanks for your suggestion about putting Sarah's parents in their place..well, that's her father down!

I'd love to hear from you!