Chapter VI: Just Like a Circus

The Almighty Disclaimer

Oh Moffat, Gatiss, and Thompson

Oh Henson and Doyle,

And Pika-la Cynique the generous,

To you belongs all the characters

And none so for me!

A/N: This story was inspired by "The Thin White Sleuth..." by Pika-la-Cynique of Girls Next Door fame.

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"You stole my goblins," Rossetti said. She was sitting Jareth's chair after he had put Sarah to bed.

"I merely requested their presence," Jareth said.

"Which you cannot do," Rossetti said, "Jareth you are not the Goblin King."

"I do not need a reminder. Can you get out of my chair? I am busy solving a case," Jareth said.

Rossetti raised a slanted eyebrow. "You are matching up a bunch of books to find a book code. I believe the term is 'whoopie-de-do' kinsman."

Jareth crossed his arms. "What is wrong, Christiana? You only call me kinsman if you are dealing with the Courts."

Rossetti shrugged. "It is nothing important. Just some mutterings from some old busybodies who cannot leave well enough alone."

"What else, Christiana? Come now, I have known you since you were a few hours old," Jareth said.

Rossetti waved her hand. "The Courts will not allow me to defend my subjects from the Gremlin Kingdom."

"They are dismissing Slider's death?"

Christiana nodded. "There is talk that the Gremlin King is going to declare war on you as well. However, I received this news from extremely unreliable sources."

"What is his problem with me? I do not recall ever displeasing him," Jareth said.

"I have no idea. There is a new Gremlin King but he has not shown his face to any Court."

Jareth sat down at the dining room table and continued his work. "Jareth, you cannot just ignore this."

"I have a more prominent threat to deal with, Christiana."

"... Do not keep Sarah out of this. She may be of service to you when dealing with the gremlins. She does a good job with the goblins. At the least, she will be a moral support."

Jareth did not respond.

"I will tell you only once more. You cannot use my goblins, Jareth, beyond asking them what they know. I hope that Sarah heals quickly." With that, the Goblin King was gone along with her goblin court.

&%&%&%

Jareth woke up Sarah more often than was necessary for a concussed person. By the time Sarah's alarm went off, she had very little sleep and was annoyed with Jareth's babying. He barely noticed this, absorbed with his puzzle.

"The thing about a book code is that it has to be a book that all of the gang members own. And one that they all have access to..." Jareth said.

"How can you think this early in the morning?" Sarah asked, "Oh, wait, you didn't get smacked in the head last night."

"I had to wake you up, Sarah."

"Every four hours! Not every forty minutes!"

"It was every hour," Jareth said.

Sarah made a noise of disgust and stormed out of the apartment.

&%&%&%

Jareth spent the next several hours going through his contacts finding out various possibilities for where the Black Lotus was hiding. A Chinese circus in for one night only seemed the best option. He needed to find Zhi Zhu and the book, but both eluded him.

Sarah had been back for about an hour when Jareth spoke to her. "I need to get some air. We are going out tonight."

"Sorry, I'm busy," Sarah said.

Jareth paused. Sarah was looking more like a grown-up than usual and she was primping her hair in the mirror.

"With what?" Jareth said slowly.

"I'm going out."

"Where?"

"The movies."

"With whom?"

"A boy."

... I am going to kill him. I am going to get that cretin who thinks he can even look at my Sarah, let alone request a night of her company.

"...and this boy is...?"

"Someone I know. I will be back before four."

I am going to kill him before the night is out.

"Why so late?"

"It doesn't really matter to you, does it?"

Jareth resisted several villainous and cliché lines to use. Instead, he plotted. "You know, the cinema is rather a dull choice. Why not try this?"

Sarah took the piece of poster that Jareth gave her. "The circus?"

"In London for one night only," Jareth said.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "I really don't need any advice."

"Of course you don't. I was merely widening your possibilities, nothing more."

"Uh-huh. How's the case going?"

"Soo Lin is in a coma and all of her books were stolen."

"Well, that is unhelpful."

"Indeed, it is. Off with you before you are late."

Sarah raised an eyebrow. "Are you ill?"

"I am quite healthy, Sarah."

"You had better not pull anything."

"I have no intentions of pulling anything."

Punching, maybe.

&%&%&%

Jareth leaned against the wall just inside the stairwell which gave him a slight view of the box office. A half hour before the show, Sarah appeared. The detective moved quietly down the steps to get a better view of her escort.

"Four tickets under the name 'Williams, Sarah'."

Four? Is it a double date or something of that sort?

"We generally do not allow children into these shows," the cashier said.

Children? Is Sarah dating someone with children?

"They are quiet and well-behaved," Sarah said, "They can sit through a complete running of Les Mis on Broadway. They'll be fine."

Jareth made his way further down the stairs. There were two seven year old girls, one blonde, the other brunette as well as a teenage boy with blonde hair.

What in the world is going on? Just walk up and get your ticket like it is pure coincidence. Yeah. Like that will work on Sarah.

Lacking a better plan, Jareth came up to the ticket counter and said, "One ticket for 'King, Jareth'."

"Jareth..." Sarah growled.

"Oh, hello Sarah," Jareth said, putting on his best smile.

"What are you doing here?" Sarah said.

"It doesn't really matter to you, does it?" Jareth quoted.

"Hey Jareth," the blonde teenager said. He looked like a punk wannabe. His bangs covered one eye completely, causing Jareth to wonder how in the world the teenager was able to see.

Jareth tilted his head and smiled as he recognized the child. "Oh, it's you Toby."

"Yeah, it's been, what, thirteen years?" Toby said, "Your hair hasn't changed."

"I am surprised you even remember me," Jareth said.

"Well, I did grow up with goblins as roommates. Plus, Sarah has always told me the stories," Toby said.

"Really?" Jareth said, surprised that Sarah would be willing to admit her moment of weakness to Toby.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't she?" Toby said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"And who are these young ladies?" Jareth asked.

"My baby sisters," Toby said.

"I'm Sophie," the brunette said.

"And I'm Emily," the blonde said.

Jareth felt Sarah grab his arm. "I need to talk to you, Jareth." He nearly doubled over by the wave of fear coming from Sarah. What's wrong? Is there a crazed gunman behind me? It's been several weeks since Sarah's emotions have gotten so out of control. Not since Slider died.

"Of course, precious," Jareth said.

Sarah gave "the look" to Toby. "Stay with the twins."

Toby waved Sarah off. "We'll be fine."

Sarah dragged Jareth to the stairwell. "What are you doing here Jareth?"

He began to answer half the truth. "The Yellow Dragon Circus are in London for one day. It fits. The Tong sent an assassin to England..."

"Then why send my 'date' and I into the fray?" Sarah asked.

Jareth resisted the urge to punch the wall. Instead, he said through gritted teeth, "I wanted to show up whoever was with you."

"Jareth, I am a grown woman and I am your flatmate. Beyond a general care that I am not dating a serial killer, this crosses into the stalking territory that we discussed in-depth before I signed the lease."

Jareth clenched his fist. "Why didn't you tell me that your family was in London? Or that you had more siblings?"

"Because I don't have to tell you."

"Sarah..."

"Jareth, the rules of the Fair Folk may be different than humans and there is some higher reasoning for it but... you stole my brother in human terms. I know you can't steal him anymore but... you can steal Emily and Sophie. I can't... I don't want to have even the possibility of losing them."

"I cannot steal them and I will not. I will get Rossetti here myself and have her explain the Laws of the Labyrinth and the Goblin Kingdom. All three thousand and forty-seven pages of it. If that does not satisfy you, I can her explain the 547,374 pages of Fair Folk Law."

"She could lie for you."

"No. She is a kinsman of the Fae. We cannot lie."

Sarah laughed. "Yeah, because saying you were a cop to that Californian wasn't lying."

"I said it was police business, which it was," Jareth said.

"So you can't lie?"

"I am not capable of lying outright, no. I can still speak falsehoods if I believe them to be true. I can say things one way and make you think another. I can also tell stories, such as the plot to the latest Doctor Who episode. (Don't lie. I know you watch that show all the time whenever you think I will not notice.) Sarcasm, however, is a self-dense mechanism."

Sarah crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't think you will steal them since it will make me come after you and we know how well that worked out last time. Can you promise me that they will be safe from being stolen by the Fae?"

"I will speak with Rossetti about it," Jareth said, "I have no sway in the Courts anymore. I will do what I can."

Jareth feels someone tug at his sleeve. He looks down and saw the blonde girl, Emily. "Hey, are you going to see the circus with us?"

"Yes," Jareth said.

"Good," Emily said, beaming.

The other girl, Sophie, was hiding behind her sister, but seemed pleased as well. Toby ruffled his younger sisters' hair. "Stop bugging the poor guy. His hair might fall out like Dad's is if you keep it up"

The twins stuck their tongue out at their brother and giggled as only little girls can. "Kids, we're leaving," Sarah said.

"But why?" the four said.

"Jareth you're not a chil... never mind," Sarah said.

Jareth grinned slightly. "The Tong already know who we are and where we live."

"WHAT!?"

"Calm down Sarah," Jareth said, "If they wanted us dead, they would have done it ages ago. I am merely checking the scene."

"'The closer we are to danger, the farther we are from harm. It's the last thing he'll expect,'" Toby said.

Sarah's eye twitched. "You don't even know what is going on you little punk."

Toby grinned. "Ah, well, I'm not too worried. We have a former goblin king, a wished away, and a Labyrinth champion. We should win by sheer awesomeness alone."

Jareth raised an eyebrow. "I see you have kept Toby well-informed."

"Why wouldn't I?" Sarah asked.

Jareth shrugged. "I must agree with young Toby with this. Besides, they will not suspect anything if we are with children."

Sarah made a choking motion towards Jareth but stopped suddenly. "Where are the girls?"

Jareth saw out of the corner of his eye the two girls running up the stairs to where the circus was taking place. "I think your sisters have made your decision for you."

Sarah smacked her head against the wall before running after her sisters. Jareth followed her. This is not going to end well.

&%&%&%

Jareth made sure they were leaning against a wall with two exits nearby. The room was mostly empty. Almost everyone who was there was middle aged and well dressed. They stuck out more than Jareth would wish, but there was nothing to do. Even without his persuasion, the twins refused to leave and Toby was helping them. Before Jareth and Sarah could do anything, the lights went down.

"Why aren't there elephants?" Sophie asked.

"Or lions?" Emily asked.

"It's not that type of circus," Jareth said.

"This is going to be boring," Emily said.

"Then we can go back to the hotel," Sarah said.

"But it's boring there too," Emily said.

"I would much prefer you to be bored at the hotel," Sarah said.

"But you asked us to go to the circus," Toby said.

"Well, some things were different then," Sarah said.

They were shushed by a nearby audience member.

Sarah paid little attention to the show but she did watch the audience as well as her siblings. The younger children were very much entranced by the show. Toby was more enthusiastic about it then he probably wish. Jareth snuck off backstage fairly quickly after the show began.

The detective was not expecting any of this to happen. He would have sent them all home if the twins were not as stubborn as Sarah. The fact that Sarah had hidden their existence worried him. Was she worried that I would take them? Why would I take them? I have no business in the retrieval of the wished away. Oh, hello. Spray paint. Let's test this... good. Yes. Wait... did that mannequin just move?

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A/N: Yes, dear readers, the Blonde Babe is Toby. Did you really think I would Jareth through the torture of seeing Sarah on the arm of another man. He. He he. Yes, I would. "BUT IT IS NOT THIS DAY!" I got an LOTR quote in this story so I am a content little fan girl.