Guest: Why thank you for reading my other stories! I have lots more coming so stay tuned and I'm glad you like this sweet story! I try to make this a sweet and fluffy one, it makes me smile!

Tonemara: Wow that is so kind of you! To me Jareth is a person too and so it was important to show that he's not only sweet but can be a brat LOL. I hope you will enjoy this one!

Little China girl: Ah so glad you loved it! I'm glad you like their families for they will be making more of an appearance! And as for the stove story, it is in a later chapter, I promise!

December 24th, Christmas Eve

On the morning of Christmas Eve, Sarah got out a journal Jareth had gifted to her when she was 17. It was a green book with blank pages, the edges were gilded with a lovely green bookmark in the middle. She turned back to the inside of the cover page and reread Jareth's note to her, smiling all through it.

Dear Sarah,

My family has a tradition of writing in a "Christmas Eve" journal every Christmas Eve. I know you already keep a journal, but I thought I would give you one specifically for Christmas Eve. It's a good way to reflect on the things that are near and dear to your heart. To reflect the growth and the person you have been and are becoming.

Merry Christmas, Precious.

-Jareth

Sarah took a green pen from a set that he had given to her. She would draw inside the journal as well. She flipped back to the past four years, seeing that she had written things about growth. About redemption and love for her family and friends. She wrote about the things she had learned from the books she read and the lessons she learned. She read about how she was learning to be patient with herself after realizing how bratty she had been.

This year, she had a different kind of growth. One where she was learning to be honest about herself TO herself.

Dear Diary,

Another year already. Isn't it amazing? So much has happened and yet, so little has changed. I'm still me. Still going to school and being that nerd while trying to balance my life with the Underground and my family. What's different is that I've grown more mature, and it's time I'm honest with myself.

I'm a person with integrity. I'm not perfect, but I do my best to do what's right (most of the time, I did wish Toby away but I DID get him back). What I lack though, is the insight to really admit how I feel. I think I feel one way then something comes to show me that I'm not. I acted and even thought I was fine when mom and dad divorced, for example, but then I would see Aunt Lauren kissing her own husband and it made me cry because I wanted that in my home. I didn't want to appear weak, to admit that sometimes I am a worse person than I wanted to be if I admitted things like jealousy or annoyance. I know now though, that it is not an embarrassing thing to admit when I'm wrong because it makes me a better person.

Admitting when I have issues is something I'm much better at now though. What I still have problems with though, are feelings that can drastically change things. To take a step of faith, of losing something and fear of being vulnerable. Vulnerable not about my imperfections but rather, in expressing how I feel towards someone as I would be scared they didn't feel the same way. This was from friends to even teachers I admired. No one wants to be the one who loves or cares about someone and feeling embarrassed when they don't feel the same way.

But even if I don't admit it to someone else, I should admit it to myself. Even now, I've written this long passage without saying outright what the heck I'm actually talking about.

I love Jareth. Thoroughly, wholly, with all my heart.

I'm still trying to understand what love is. It isn't just a feeling but it's something more. It's feeling at home with someone. It's wanting the best for them and trying to understand them or just being there for them. I'm sure there's more but for now, I think that suffices because that's what I feel for Jareth.

He makes me smile. He makes me be myself, my best self. Not to change me but to make me better. And I wouldn't want to change him either. Mom told me to never expect someone to change but if they happen to, then that's a good thing. We both have changed since meeting each other. I've become better. So has he.

Yesterday, we kissed under the mistletoe. It was everything and nothing like I would have expected. It was a chaste kiss but it overwhelmed me more than any other kiss from anyone in the past, and I'm no innocent. I can't pretend that we're just flirting anymore, we have something so much more. He was so gentle, so passionate and sweet but also full of so much longing that I wonder why he didn't admit his feelings for me before. Was he as scared as I was? I have no idea, but the only way to know is to ask him. And I will, but first I think we should go slowly.

Taking a chance with Jareth really is terrifying. I don't want to lose my friendship with him, but as Mom, Dad, and Karen told me, if he cares about me even as just a friend, he would continue to be my friend.

The weight on my chest seems to have eased after admitting that I love him. Cognitive dissonance is a really messy thing! I'm so glad that no matter what happens, I love him and will always treasure him. I hope he feels the same way. Even so, I am determined to keep being honest about my feelings.

Sarah finished her writing. Next to her entry, she drew a picture of a barn owl holding a crystal in his claws, right under a mistletoe.

Jareth sat in the living room with his parents and sister, dressed in a very comfortable, fluffy red bathrobe. He slung one leg over the armchair and flipped open his Christmas Eve journal.

He watched his family write in their own journals, his mind wandering to Sarah. He knew she wrote in her journal too since he had told her of the tradition. A smile filled his face of the idea of her intently writing down with her dark hair framing her face. He could see her scrunching her nose in thought and the crease in her eyebrows.

Shaking his head, he began to write.

Well, once again it is Christmas Eve. Another day to reflect on my long life and every year that passes.

Except this year, it doesn't feel so long or lonely. Then again, it hasn't been since Sarah came into my life.

A few days ago, she called me out on my arrogant side when she just tried to take care of me when I was hurt from the fire. I had never, never realized or allowed myself to understand how much she really felt for me. I had always been afraid about her, to wonder if she felt the same for me after that rejection when she was running my labyrinth.

I was an idiot.

I had only wanted a chance, to court her. I would not have married her, not at that young age. I want someone who is strong and independent. No matter how mature one may be, you are always less mature at 16 than you will be at 18 or even in your 20s or older. I know that I was manipulative, wanting to be in control of the situation and didn't realize that in wanting her to be independent and strong, I was almost forcing my view of her onto her. Lucky for Sarah and for me, she rejected me. It gave us a year to contemplate, to think about our future. She understands now that I had not meant to hurt her but she still insists that I did something wrong. And she's right. Part of redemption for me is to admit that I myself had done something wrong.

I don't know all that I felt for her then, but something happened to our friendship that has changed me.

I love her.

Maybe I always have, maybe it creeped up on me slowly. But I love her. I have known this for a while now and have waited to see if she would respond the same. She had done things, kissed my cheek, held me and took care of me, not pushing me away. But I can't just assume it means love. It can mean that she cares about me as a friend with an innocent infatuation. But of course, I need to see for myself. To ask her.

And yesterday, we kissed. Under the mistletoe, but it was a kiss nonetheless.

I thought it would have been a quick peck but instead it lasted longer than that. She held me and I held her. The way her face flushed made my heart soar. I could see in her eyes that she felt something for me more than just a friend. I can no longer put off, deny, or ignore my feelings for her after that kiss.

I think I will take the advice of my family and ask her on a date. It would have to be a fun, light date but a spectacular one nonetheless.

No matter what happens, I will always be there for her. Even as the world falls down. I want to protect her and hold her close, to let her be the woman she was always been destined to be. I hope beyond hope that as time goes on, she will accept me and be my queen. I don't mind if it takes years so long as I can still be by her side. I meant it back then and I mean it now.

Now she has made me a better person. Now I have made her a better person too. She banters with me, smiles and cries with me. She even helped to take care of refugees and wished aways. No one has done that for me before. She hates it at times, I can see, but she does it because it's an act of goodness and because she cares about me.

Yes. I will ask her to court me. If she does not want to or does not feel the same way, I understand. But I will not let go unless she doesn't want me.

He put the pen down, giving a content sigh. Conjuring some colored pencils, he drew in a beautiful blue sky with the sun shrinking magnificently with a pair of lovely green eyes in the clouds. On the bottom, he wrote down in loopy, cursive letters:

I'll place the sky within your eyes

He heard feet shuffling. Looking up, he saw Jasmine coming to sit on the floor in front of him.

"What are you drawing?" She asked him.

"Nothing." He closed his journal shut and magicked it to his room.

"Nothing, nothing tra la la?" She teased.

Jareth threw a couch cushion at her. "Shut up, Jas."

I hope you liked this chapter! FINALLY they realize that they love each other! EEK! I can't wait to share the rest with you guys and I wish I could say I write a journal but I don't, LOL. The closest thing is fanfiction because I don't realize that I add my own stories in here until I'm done writing a chapter or a scene. It's very therapeutic actually as I try to write in different perspectives too. Next chapter will be a sweet one too! Can't wait for you to read it! More reviews means faster posting!