A/N: Hi, remember me? Yeah, the author who took four years to update a fic. Sorry about that. I lost inspiration and I was (and still am) very heavily into BBC Sherlock/Sherlolly fandom and probably will be for the rest of my life. I hope this chapter makes up for the long wait, and I already know what the next chapter (probably the final chapter) will be.
Previously: Sarah and Jareth made love in the Ballroom scene. Sarah had a baby and planned to give him up for adoption, but Jareth discovered what was going on and stole their son away to the Underground. Due to his extreme anger at Sarah, he altered everyone's memories and made it seem as if she'd never had a child. She ended up in an institution for two years, but upon her release was finally able to return to the Underground, where she discovered Jareth had kept their son, whom he named Liam, under a spell preserving him as a newborn. He brought Sarah to the cottage where he slept his enchanted sleep, and waited outside while she hurried in to be reunited with her son.
But that's not where the story ends...
Sarah rushed into the cottage, her eyes only for the small form sleeping in the bassinet that was placed at the foot of a bed. It was just as Jareth had promised; Liam looked no more than hours old, his rosebud lips pursed as he slept, his breathing deep and even, his hair a soft golden crown on his tiny head. A saffron glow surrounded him, a sure sign of magic, but she was unhesitating as she reached down for him, needing to feel him in her arms.
"Before you break the spell, my dear, there are some things you need to know."
Sarah turned toward the source of that musical voice, her body held protectively between the bassinet and the other person - a beautiful, ethereal woman she'd never seen before. She automatically looked for Jareth, but he wasn't there.
As if reading her thoughts the strange woman said, "No, he's not here. My son is waiting for you outside."
"Your son? You're Jareth's mother?" Sarah gaped at the woman standing before her – tall, slender, youthful looking, radiantly beautiful, with warm brown eyes and long, golden hair that fell nearly to the back of her knees. This was Jareth's mother? The Goblin King had a mother? Mind-boggling.
Sarah was graced with a sweet smile she couldn't help but return. "I am. And I am also Queen of the Fae and Liam's grandmother." Her smile dimmed, and Sarah took an automatic step backwards, suddenly wary of the very real possibility that this woman might be as cruel and capricious as her son. "And in that capacity I am here to explain a few things that Jareth has neglected to share with you – beginning with the fact that one of the Fae can only have a child with a mortal if they love that mortal."
Sarah shook her head. "No, that can't be true," she protested. "He hates me. He stole our son away and changed everyone's memories so they thought I was crazy - "
She gave a regal nod, acknowledging Sarah's words, not disputing them. "All actions taken out of pain, my dear. Pain at your continued rejection of him, pain at the thought of you not loving his child. Pain at his belief that you hated him."
"He stole my baby brother -" Sarah began, only to have her words cut off, rather sharply, by Jareth's mother.
"At your behest," she reminded her. "Following the rules you laid down for your interactions. He acted as you required him to because of your love and admiration for the words in your book." She raised one long, elegant hand, and suddenly the red leather-bound volume appeared between her fingers. "This is what set all your interactions in motion, my dear. My son sensed a kindred spirit in you, and responded to your deepest, fondest wishes by giving you what he truly believed you wanted." Her look turned knowing. "Including your darkest desires."
Sarah flushed beet red at those words. She wanted to protest, to explain that she'd only been a child herself, that she hadn't actually wanted Jareth that way, but she knew damned well how weak that argument would be. Especially since she couldn't even convince herself of the truth of those words.
No, she'd been young and foolish, but Jareth had read her heart and given her what they both wanted. Liam was the result of those actions, and if there was one thing Sarah knew, it was that she wouldn't change a single thing if it meant her son would cease to exist.
While she struggled with her thoughts, Jareth's mother spoke again. "Would it help you to know that, in terms of emotional maturity and Fae lifespans, my son is barely out of adolescence himself?"
"That would explain a lot," Sarah admitted, then raised her chin defiantly. "But it doesn't excuse any of it." She shook her head. "I hate what he did to me - not that," she added with a blush. "That was both of us letting our hormones take over, I guess, if what you're telling me is true. But what happened after…"
"You hate what he did to you after Liam was born," The Queen said.
Sarah nodded. "I do. I was locked away for two years with everyone thinking I was crazy. And that may not be a long time to you or Jareth, but it was a lifetime for me, a lifetime where all I could do was worry about a son no one else believed existed. I had no idea what kind of a life he was living, if Jareth would be a good father to him or not - and," she interrupted herself to add with more than a hint of frustrated anger, "I still don't know any of that, since Liam's been under a Sleeping Beauty spell all this time. How am I supposed to explain him to my family when we go back?"
She paused, a chill coming over her as she thought of the horrible possibilities that might happen. "What if my family thinks I kidnapped him? Would a blood test prove I'm his mother or would they take him away from me and lock me back up again?" Her eyes widened in growing fear, and she stumbled back a step. "Is this what you both want, to see me locked up again so you can keep him here?"
"He'll have to remain here, at least until he's older, whether you decide to stay with him or not."
"What? Why?" Sarah demanded as she stared at the other woman. "I thought Jareth brought me here so I could take him back home with me if I wanted to!"
"You're certainly allowed to do so," a new - familiar, currently unwanted - voice cut in.
Sarah whirled to face Jareth, keeping her body between him and the crib. "Then that's what I want," she said firmly. "I'll figure out how to convince everyone he's my son, as long as it keeps him safe from you."
"Safe?" Jareth's eyes flashed with rage and what Sarah thought might actually be hurt as he took a deliberate step forward, then another, until he towered over her and she was forced to tilt her head back to continue to meet his gaze. "You think he'll be safer with you, in the human world where his magic will wither and die?"
"Let it die!" she shouted back. "He's my son, he should be with me in the human world where everything makes sense and he can live a normal life!"
"No." That cold, implacable voice belonged to the Queen, Liam's grandmother. Both Sarah and Jareth turned to face her, but her next words turned Sarah's anger to confusion. "Jareth, why do you waste your breath arguing with this girl, whom you love, when you should be telling her the simple truth of the matter?"
"What truth?" Sarah asked warily, glancing at Jareth from the corner of her eye.
"Liam is half-Fae, Sarah." He spoke as if the words were being forced from him. "He cannot prosper if he lives solely in the human world. Without the magic of the Underground to sustain him, he'll sicken and eventually…he'll die."
Sarah's breath caught, her heart pounding fiercely in her chest at that confession. It could all be a lie, meant to trick her into giving her baby up, but some part of her recognized it for the truth it was. "You said solely," she said, when she could finally marshall her whirling thoughts. She met Jareth's gaze. "Does that mean he could live part of the time here, and part of the time with me?"
The Queen was the one who responded. "Yes, it's possible. But you and my son both have to agree to the terms; a contract must be written up between you, signed in your blood and thus binding to death for both of you."
Sarah nodded. "Joint custody agreement, got it." She gave Jareth a challenging look. "Well? Do you think you could handle that?"
"Can you?" he asked pointedly. "Or will you spend the rest of your life complaining about how unfair it all is?"
Her lip curled as she looked him over. "I can if you don't try to cheat me," she declared.
Unseen by either of them, Queen Myria smiled to herself. Oh, Jareth had certainly met his match when he'd fallen in love with this feisty human girl - no, woman, she corrected herself. A human woman who would one day make an excellent Queen of the Fae, and whose son would possibly be the greatest King either the human world or the Underground had ever seen.
The contract would be drawn up, both Sarah and Jareth would sign it, and one day these two stubborn, impossible youngsters would find their way back to one another - and Liam would have the loving family he so richly deserved.
