Disclaimer: THE ONLY THING I CLAIM TO OWN IS THE INSANE IDEA THAT FORMED THIS STORY. EVERYTHING ELSE IS BORROWED FROM RESPECTIVE OWNERS.

CURSE OF THE LABRYNTH

CHAPTER SIX

She arrived home to find Jareth lying naked on the couch with an arm draped over his face.

"I was outside for the past ten minutes calling you, you know," she accused lightly at seeing him.

"My apologies," he mumbled, unmoving.

"Are you alright?" she asked with concern, placing her keys and bag on the end table. "How'd you get in the house anyway?"

"I'll be fine in a moment," he replied, sounding tired. "And I got in through the broken window in the cellar as an owl."

She walked over to him and instinctively placed her hand on his forehead.

"You feel a little warm. You're not coming down with anything, are you?" she asked with concern. "I mean, 'can' you get sick?"

Then a thought suddenly occurred to her.

"Oh shit, have you ever been vaccinated?" she asked, panic rising within her.

"What if you get smallpox, or the measles, or the flu… Oh my god, the common cold wiped out thousands…"

"Sarah," he voiced tiredly, still unmoving. "I'm fine. I'm not capable of contracting human diseases, cursed or not, I simply need to rest for a bit."

His words were reassuring to a certain degree and she calmed down again.

"Does this have to do with you switching back and forth?"

"It does," he answered in a low voice. "Without the magic to regulate my human body, the transformation makes me tired."

"You didn't look tired when you were flying out of sight at the reserve." She grinned, brushing his hair from his forehead.

"You were very convincing, by the way."

He lowered his arm from his forehead to rest it on his stomach.

"It doesn't affect me as much as an owl."

He opened his mismatched eyes to look up at her.

"And you were very convincing, too. I especially liked the tears."

She felt an instant pull in her gut when he looked at her.

The admiration in his eyes tugged at her insides, she felt guilty that she didn't reciprocate his feelings. And yet, she had the sudden urge to crawl onto the sofa with him and just lie in his arms.

Instead, she leaned over the sofa, took the throw blanket from the back, and placed it over him.

"I'll need you to help me phrase correctly for you to be clothed when you shift back to human form," she told him, tucking the blanket under his arms.

"Because as nice as you look naked, you need to have your clothes on." She kissed him lightly on the lips then smiled.

He nodded ever so slightly as his eyes fell closed in sleep.

She gazed down at him for a long time, caressing his hair, his cheek, and neck, simply admiring how attractive he really was when he wasn't being threatening or difficult.

In fact, she realized upon thinking about it, he hadn't been difficult much at all.

He continuously spoke to her politely, often called her by the formal title of lady, and hadn't refused her anything she'd asked or demanded of him.

Well, except for getting back in the car, but she could allow him that one, she did drive very aggressively.

'Allow him?' she thought pointedly to herself.

"I really do have power over you, don't I?" she whispered, still running her fingers through his soft hair.

She leaned over him and gently rested her forehead on his.

"But what if I want…"

'you to be like you were before? To be demanding and forceful and…'

"…more?"

The heat emanating from him concerned her. She glanced over her shoulder towards the end table, then back down at Jareth.

"I'll figure this out, I promise," she whispered softly as he slept.

Taking the book from the drawer, she went upstairs to her room and sat cross-legged on her bed.

She felt slightly light-headed as she held the book in her hands and her vision blurred with brief dizziness.

Blinking her eyes, she got her focus back and looked at the book pointedly.

"We need to talk," she whispered to the journal sized hardbound in her hands, not feeling weird or strange in the least for talking to a book.

The book became warmer in response.

"I need to understand the rules of the labyrinth, and the laws of Jareth's world. I can't help him if I don't know what went wrong."

She jumped suddenly and whipped her head up at a shadow that fluttered past her window.

Realizing it was just a robin landing in the tree outside, she relaxed again.

She watched as it flitted on a branch for a minute then flew away.

Sarah let the first night she had met Jareth refresh itself in her mind: how he came barging into her parents' room, how he had taken her to the labyrinth with a wave of his hand, how he had threatened her, laughed at her, and put a spell on her.

He had frightened her so badly that she couldn't breathe, she hadn't been able to think straight whenever he had gotten too close to her.

Jareth had known, even if she hadn't, that she was attracted to him. It had been easy for him to manipulate the ballroom dream.

He still had that knowledge even more so now that she was older and that she's having sex with him.

She let her gaze fall back to the book and secretly smiled.

She found it ironic how sometime during the past five years she had forgiven him for how he had treated her, for all the pain and confusion he'd caused her.

Somehow it all just didn't seem as terrible.

But the curse was still in effect, and she only made things worse with her wishes.

He told her that she would be the death of him, that the curse wouldn't allow him to make decisions.

She hadn't taken him seriously until she found him lying on the sofa with a temperature.

"Giving him a choice is hurting him," she whispered at the book. "You're supposed to protect him, you're a part of him, why would you grant me a wish like that?"

She opened the book to find all the pages blank, not even a faint script in another language was visible.

"That's not fair," she whispered within a shocked breath.

"He deserves another chance. I owe him at least that much. It's my fault that this happened to him. I wish to know how to lift the curse!"

The book felt as though it exploded in her hands as an electrical heat surged through her.

Her eyes rolled to the back of her head as she slumped onto her side, the book still in her hands.

She saw herself back in the labyrinth with Jareth standing before her, pleading for her to love him, fear him, do as he says, and he would be her slave.

He held the crystal containing all her dreams in it up to her face, his eyes pleading for her to accept it.

Sarah knew that at that point she had been wracking her brain, trying to remember the next line from the book. The only thing she was focused on at that time was saving Toby and defying Jareth the only way she knew how.

Already knowing how this scene turned out, she looked at Jareth more intently and noticed something in his eyes, and in the crystal, that she hadn't noticed the first time.

A woman, with feature's like Jareth, had been standing behind her with her arms outstretched and a look of pure anguish on her face as Sarah had spoken the words that had turned the labyrinth upside-down.

She jolted into a sitting position with a silent scream in her throat.

Her heart beat erratically, her breathing was labored, and her eyes burned as they did after being in chlorine water.

She glanced down at the book still in her hands and blinked repeatedly when she thought she saw it glowing, but it was gone in an instant.

She put the book down and swung her legs over the side of the bed. With her elbows on her knees she gently rubbed at her burning eyes. After a couple of minutes the irritation went away and she breathed easier.

Reaching behind herself, she picked up the book and opened it.

The pages were still blank.

"Why can't anything from that damn place be simple?!" she growled, tossing the book on the bed.

"Sarah?"

"What?!" she snapped angrily, spinning half sideways towards the doorway, then took a deep calming, breath.

"Sorry," she said in a softer tone. "I was having an argument and for once it wasn't with you."

She grabbed the book from the bed and moved past him to go downstairs.

"Are you feeling better?" she asked as an afterthought at the top of the steps, trying to sound more pleasant.

"Yes, much better."

He gazed upon her curiously.

"What were you wishing for that the book refused you?"

"Answers," she replied gruffly and turned to go downstairs.

She paused, thinking of the woman she'd seen in her dream vision and turned back to ask Jareth who she was, but something told her not to mention it.

A feeling of deep secrecy filled her soul.

"Are you feeling alright?" he asked in turn.

"I'm fine," she answered quickly. "Pissed, but I'm fine."

Someone knocking at the front door made both of them turn their gazes in the general direction of the sound.

"It's Brian," Jareth informed her simply.

She was going to ask how he knew that then decided not to.

She glanced undecidedly from down the stairs back to Jareth.

She wasn't ready to let Brian meet Jareth, but she didn't have the heart to ask Jareth to hide either. That would be too much to ask of him.

"I'll remain upstairs," Jareth volunteered, turning to walk into the bedroom.

"Thank you," she whispered.

A warm fondness filled her at his understanding.

* x* x* x* x* x* x* x*x *x *

Sarah put the book back in the drawer of the end table, then opened the door wide as Brian was about to knock again.

He stepped back and held up a bag of Chinese take-out in front of his face.

"I brought a peace offering," he said behind the bag, then lowered it to his nose to peek at her.

"I'm sorry. Can I come in so we can talk?"

"How could I possibly refuse Chinese take-out?" She smiled and stepped to the side for him to enter the house.

He stopped just inside the door and looked around nervously.

"Uhm, maybe you should take the food," he said warily, holding the bag out to Sarah as she closed the door and stepped next to him.

"I don't want to get attacked for it."

Sarah sighed deeply.

'Might as well stick to the story,' she thought to herself.

"He's not here," she said, hoping she sounded glum enough.

"He flew off this morning when I took him to the wildlife reserve to have a leg band put on him."

"No," Brian breathed with disbelief, looking at her with shock. "After all the trouble that thing caused, he honestly just took off on you?"

Sarah nodded, keeping her head bent to avoid looking at him. She didn't want to lie to him, not Brian, but what choice did she have?

"Ah, damn, Sarah," he stated sympathetically.

Brian put the food on the end table and took her into his arms to hug her.

"I'm so sorry," he said sincerely. "I hated that damn bird being around, but not enough to wish for it to fly away."

She looked up at him and met his eyes.

"Thank you," she said softly. "That means a lot coming from you."

"Hey, that's what friends are for." He grinned down at her.

Brian grabbed the food as he ushered her towards the kitchen.

"Maybe he just wanted to get laid," he speculated after a short silence.

"Brian!"

"No, I'm serious," he stressed, looking over at her. "You said yourself he was acting weird." He shrugged.

"Maybe your theory of him going through a phase wasn't so far off. Could be time for him to settle down, find a female, make a nest. If you think about it, it would make sense."

"I guess," she replied demurely, inwardly trying not to laugh.

"I just hope he doesn't come back with a wife and a shit load of babies."

He frowned as he placed the food on the counter.

It was the excuse Sarah needed to laugh and she took full advantage of it.

Brian joined in with the mirth as they got plates to dish out the food.

Sarah poured some soda for them both while Brian scooped food onto the plates. He handed her a set of chopsticks from the bag as they moved to the table.

Sitting down, the mood between them was dramatically lighter than it had been in weeks.

"I missed this," Brian stated around a mouthful of food, waving his chopsticks from himself to Sarah and back again.

"We weren't really friends there for awhile, were we?" he added after he swallowed.

"No, I don't think we were."

She finished chewing and took another sip of her drink. "I think we were trying so hard to be boyfriend and girlfriend that we forgot to just be friends."

"Yea, I think so too." He nodded.

"I owe you an apology," he said quietly staring at his food.

"I don't know why I flew off the handle like that the other day. Now that the dumb thing flew off on you I feel even worse."

"And yet you haven't mentioned that he might come back to make me feel better," she smirked at him.

"Do I 'have' to say that?" he asked her, his face scrunching up with reluctance.

"No," she laughed.

"Good," he smiled. "Cause you know it would be a lie."

He drank some soda and looked at Sarah knowingly before speaking again.

"My boss had me run out to the west office today for another training session," he mentioned, changing the subject.

"That's great!" she exclaimed. "Do you think he's considering you for that other position?"

"I'm not sure," he replied nonchalantly.

"But guess who I saw in a parking lot getting very friendly with some blonde guy I've never seen before?" he asked with a knowing smirk.

Sarah's eyes widened and she stopped chewing.

Brian laughed at her reaction.

"So, who is he?" he asked with interest, leaning forward with his elbows on the table.

"Uhm..." She stalled, chewing what was in her mouth slowly before swallowing.

"His name's Jareth," she answered uncomfortably.

"Jareth," he repeated, mulling the name in his mind. "Never heard you mention him before."

"He's not exactly someone I talk about," she said in a low voice, diverting her eyes to her plate.

"Why not? Who is he?"

"He's just…" she took a deep breath, searching her brain for something feasible to say. "Someone I met a few years ago." She shrugged.

"Wow, could you be more vague?" He joked.

"Where'd you meet him? 'When' did you meet him?"

All of a sudden his face lit up with realization.

"That's why you've been acting weird lately! Why didn't you just tell me you were seeing someone?"

Sarah stared at her friend as the easy answer for everything was handed to her on a silver platter.

"I wasn't sure how you'd take it since we just sort of broke up," she lied easily.

"Oh," he voiced in a flat tone.

"I guess that would make sense," he remarked quietly.

They ate in silence for a minute.

"So how'd you meet him?" Brian pushed.

"Why does it matter?" she asked almost defensively.

"Wow, I really hit a sore spot, didn't I?" he asked, leaning back in his chair with an intrigued expression.

"You've never been this reluctant to talk about your boyfriends with me before."

"He's not my boyfriend," she stated firmly. "And if I wanted to tell you about him then…"

"Hey, it's okay," he interrupted, holding his hands up in surrender.

"I was just curious about who he was, that's all." He crossed his arms casually. "I mean, he's not even your type and there you were hugging him like he meant something to you."

"What do you mean, he's not even my type?" she asked, sounding defensive again.

"Well," he started facetiously, ignoring her curtness.

"First of all," he raised his hand to point to his fingers.

"I've never seen you with a blonde before. Second of all, you don't usually go for men who are that much taller than you, and thir…" he paused as his eyes grew wide.

"Whoa… oh shit, he was your first crush wasn't he?"

"What?!" Sarah laughed uneasily.

"Don't be stupid," she added, getting up to refill her glass.

"Damn, I'm right!" he said with an exuberant smile, turning in his seat to keep her in sight.

"You said you met him a few years ago. But I've known you for three years and you've never mentioned him. So, you must have met him when you were… what… sixteen?"

"Fifteen," she grumbled, not liking how this conversation turned on her.

Never mind the fact that the man in question was upstairs, probably listening to everything they were saying, especially if he changed into an owl to hear better.

"That's why you never really dated anyone, isn't it?" He persisted. "And when you did, you went for shorter guys with dark hair."

He facetiously leaned on his arm on the back of the chair with a smirk.

"I bet Jareth's got blue eyes, doesn't he?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Brian," she said firmly with her back turned.

"Wow," he voiced in a subdued tone. "You really love this guy, don't you?"

"Love has nothing to …"

She turned to put the soda back in the fridge and saw Jareth walking through the living room, thankfully dressed in jeans and a t-shirt.

"…do with it."

Brian followed her line of sight just as Jareth came into view at the doorway.

"Hello, I'm Jareth," he greeted Brian pleasantly, holding out his hand.

"Brian," he replied dumbly, being caught completely off guard. He shook hands, saying, "I didn't realize Sarah had company in the house."

He glanced sideways at Sarah with a knowing smirk playing at the corner of his lips.

"Neither did I," Jareth replied smoothly, then looked at Sarah.

"You weren't in bed when I woke up." He said in a lightly accusing tone, a smirk firmly on his lips.

"Well, that's my cue to leave," Brian announced as he stood up. "It was nice to mee…"

"Don't leave on my account," Jareth interrupted. "I merely wanted to introduce myself."

"Right," Brian replied, dragging the word out with a knowing smirk, then glanced at Sarah.

"You might as well stay," she conceded extremely uncomfortable with the turn of events.

Knowing Brian as she did with his outspokenness, and Jareth for the same, she wasn't sure she wanted to be in the same room with them both. But her greatest fear was that Jareth might say the wrong thing, and he was capable of saying a lot.

"Do you like Chinese?" Brian asked Jareth enthusiastically, gesturing toward the food on the table.

"I love Chinese," Jareth answered with a mischievous smile and seated himself in the third chair at the table.

"I'll get you a plate," Sarah told him stiffly, barely moving her lips.

She gave him a pointed warning look when he glanced up at her.

"So, uhm… what do you do for a living?" Brian asked Jareth, purposely ignoring Sarah's obvious discomfort.

"I'm in theater," Jareth answered easily.

Sarah dropped the plate in her hand and spun her head around to look at Jareth with shock.

Both men turned their gazes towards her.

She smiled weakly and shrugged as she turned back to the counter. The plate hadn't broken, and she proceeded to scoop food onto it for Jareth.

"That would explain the whole make up… eyebrows… look," Brian stated choppily, turning his attention back to the other man.

"Yes, it does, doesn't it?" He smiled, looking over at Sarah triumphantly as she turned from the counter.

Sarah came to the table and put the plate before Jareth, handing him a set of chopsticks to eat with.

She noticed his smug expression and chose to ignore it.

"You want more soda, Brian?" Sarah asked with forced casualness. "Jareth, do you want any soda?"

Both men said yes and please, and Sarah busied herself once more.

She was grateful for the distraction as they talked amongst themselves behind her. So far this was going better than she had thought it would.

Jareth's easy response to his choice of career had been a shock. He'd obviously thought about a few things before boldly coming downstairs.

"So, how did you meet Sarah?" Brian asked, snickering over his shoulder.

He laughed when she half turned to glare at him.

"Why are you so obsessed about 'how' we met?" she asked with frustration.

"Because you won't answer me!" He laughed and turned his gaze to Jareth expectantly. One way or another he was going to get answers!

"I happened to be in the park one day and saw her rehearsing her lines for a play," Jareth answered readily.

Sarah's jaw dropped, again shocked at his thoughtfulness towards being questioned.

"Unfortunately, she didn't get the part, though I thought her performance was brilliant, but she gave up her dreams of acting."

He used the chopsticks adeptly and placed a gravy covered broccoli spear in his mouth. Chewing and swallowing before he continued.

"I've only recently reacquainted myself and was fairly put out when she refused to stay with me and further her acting."

"So, you thought sleeping with her would change her mind?" Brian laughed, thinking this was funny as hell.

"Something like that," Jareth said off-handedly. "She can be very obstinate, can't she?"

"Oh yea, very obstinate when she sets her mind to something," Brian agreed readily.

"I always wondered why she had a distaste for theater and fantasy. Maybe she has some regrets for decisions she's made in the past," Brian insinuated with tongue in cheek.

"I'm standing right here, you know," she said irritably with her arms crossed.

Her heart was beating too fast. Jareth was so close to the truth she almost had a panic attack, and Brian sucked up every word like a sponge, not leaving any room for errors.

"You're food's getting cold," Brian said looking over his shoulder at her, his eyes dancing with enjoyment.

"You should finish eating before you don't want it."

She wanted to smack him upside his smug head, both of them as a matter of fact. Then she decided to give into that urge.

"Get your own damn soda," she snapped.

Slapping Brian soundly in the back of the head she walked around the table and sat down at her plate.

Brian chuckled and stood up, rubbing the back of his head. "She's also very temperamental in case you haven't noticed."

"Yes, I've definitely noticed that."

He looked over at Sarah as Brian poured the sodas for them. He nudged her leg with his when she ignored his steady gaze.

She glanced over at him, her eyes flared with irritation.

He winked at her and smiled.

She quickly lowered her head back to her food. His smile alone caused a flash of heat to course through her. Picking up her glass, she took a healthy gulp, then another one as Brian turned around to rejoin them.

Brian paused with a glass in each hand to glance between the two people at the table.

Sarah was too quiet and the smirk on Jareth's face suggested some silent communication had been exchanged behind his back. He found this very interesting and sat back down, putting the glasses on the table.

"So how long do you plan to stick around?" Brian asked Jareth.

"Dammit, Brian," Sarah voiced exasperated. "Why can't you think of something else to talk about?"

"Because in all the years I've known you, I've never seen you this flustered about anything." He grinned at her. "Well, except for that damn owl," he added as an afterthought.

"Damn owl?" Jareth questioned, not quite sounding pleasant.

Brian didn't seem to notice.

Sarah quickly glanced from one to the other.

'Oh, no,' she thought. 'Here it comes. Jareth's going to lose it.'

"I took care of an owl that had gotten hurt a few years ago," she explained quickly for pretense purposes. "And Brian had a problem with him being around, that's all."

She pleaded with her eyes for Jareth to let it drop but he wasn't paying attention to her.

"Damn right I had a problem with it," Brian affirmed. "It was a wild animal that she insisted on treating like a pet." He pointed towards the living room.

"Look at the size of that cage." He met Jareth's gaze head on. "That bird filled that cage with barely any room to spare." He glanced over at Sarah. "Not that I ever saw him in it because she let him roam wherever he wanted to go."

"Brian, please," she said with exasperation, placing her hand to her forehead.

'Jareth is going to flip.' She thought with dread.

"Jareth," Brian directed pointedly, flicking the back of his hand towards the fae to gain his undivided attention.

"Would you honestly feel comfortable knowing someone you cared about had a fierce wild animal roaming in her house?" He waved his hand grandly in the air.

"I mean just last week the thing swooped out of nowhere and stole food right off my plate in a public place!" He splayed his hands out in front of him to emphasize the table and his food.

"Would you feel at ease with it in the house, flying free while she slept?"

Jareth was quiet, too quiet.

Sarah lifted her hand to peer over at him, afraid of what she was going to see in his eyes.

"Absolutely not," he answered finally.

Sarah let her hand drop to the table with another bout of shock.

Jareth turned his head to look at Sarah. "Where is this owl now?"

She was too stunned to answer him.

"See? He even agrees with me," Brian directed at Sarah.

"He flew off on her this morning," Brian answered for her in a calmer tone. "She's still upset about it. I'm sorry, Sarah," he apologized quietly.

"I didn't mean to shove it in your face again." He turned his head towards Jareth. "I think the owl is the only thing we've ever fought about during our entire friendship. But I could never make her see how dangerous it was."

"He never hurt me, Brian," Sarah voiced, reiterating an old argument just in case Jareth had to be an owl again, especially since being human was taking its toll on him. "Why can't you understand that?"

"Perhaps," Jareth voiced calmly, "the owl was simply indebted to Sarah for saving his life. Even wild animals know when they are cared for and will return the affection."

Jareth leaned forward with his elbows on the table.

"I've recently watched on TV; a man and woman camped near wild wolves. Before long they were able to pet them and play with the pups. I'm not suggesting for Sarah to let in wild owls, but that one in particular obviously trusted her as much as she did him."

"Yea, well, that sounds good on TV, but this is my best friend I'm talking about." He gestured towards Sarah.

"And the only thing that makes me feel better about that owl is that he's not around anymore."

Sarah stood suddenly and walked out of the room. She couldn't take it anymore. Brian would never accept Jareth in owl form, no matter what, and with the way things were looking the owl's return might be inevitable.

The men quietly assessed each other as Sarah left the room, each waiting for the other to go after her, or at least say something.

After a moment of silence, Brian pushed his plate away with disinterest.

"Damn owl," he muttered under his breath.

"From what you've both said regarding the owl," Jareth said to Brian nonchalantly, "I think Sarah's driving is much more dangerous."

"You 'rode' in the car with her?" Brian asked astounded, leaning forward in his chair. "Ah, man, I wish I could've warned you about that."

"Warn him about what?" Sarah asked with paranoia as she returned.

After she had left the room she had realized that their conversation could take a serious turn for the worse and decided to go back to the kitchen.

"Your driving," Brian answered simply.

"What about my driving?" she asked defensively.

Jareth leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms with an amused expression on his face.

"I'm sorry, Sarah." Brian chuckled apologetically. "But everyone who knows you, knows better than to let you drive them anywhere!"

"My driving is not that bad!" she defended herself. "In fact, I've never had an accident, a speeding ticket, or a moving violation of any sort!"

"Yea." Brian chuckled, looking over at Jareth. "That's either an act of god or one helluva magic spell!"

Sarah snorted. "Some friend you are," she said irritably, but an uneasy feeling crept into her gut as she looked at Jareth, wondering if Brian wasn't far from the truth.

'Did he put a magic spell on me?'

"Anyway, I'm going to head out," Brian announced, getting to his feet.

"Oh, why bother?" Sarah asked snidely. "You're insults are just getting better and better."

Brian chuckled good naturedly and stepped over to give her a hug.

"I feel like a third wheel. Besides I have a date tonight." He smirked at her.

"Really," she voiced with interest, stepping back from him. "Who is she? How did you meet?"

Brian laughed aloud.

"I'll fill you in later in the week."

Turning around, he addressed Jareth who had also stood up.

"It was nice meeting you, Jareth. Hope to see you around."

He inclined slightly towards the blonde to whisper not so discreetly behind his hand, "I think she likes you more than she wants you to know. Never seen her so uptight around a guy before."

Jareth smiled at the information while Sarah was too embarrassed to rebuke his comment.

Her feelings for Jareth were complicated and there was no way she could ever explain them to Brian.

Brian headed towards the front door.

"Oh," he said as an afterthought, spinning around to face Sarah again. "Tell Karen that something came up and I can't make it. Give her one of my excuses for me."

Sarah looked at him blankly, not knowing what he was talking about.

"The barbeque on Saturday," he said pointedly, refreshing her memory. "That 'we' were supposed to go to?" His finger was waggling back and forth in the air between them.

"Oh shit. I forgot all about that."

"You can take Jareth instead." Brian smiled at Jareth. "Wait till you meet Karen." he beamed affectionately. "She's just great."

Sarah saw Jareth's back stiffen and stepped closer to him.

"Don't," she whispered very low as a warning without moving her lips much.

"I can't wait," Jareth replied with a convincing smile.