For Keeps
Sarah's been out of the Labyrinth for 6 months, and her seemingly instant maturity hasn't gone unnoticed. When Jareth shows up, seeking to understand how she beat him, things progress down a path neither could have anticipated. JS
Disclaimer- All Standard Disclaimers Apply
Chapter Nine:
"Well, Sarah, I really don't know how to respond to this," Linda began as she put all of Sarah's new clothes away. "It's just so weird."
"What's so weird about it?" Sarah demanded from where she was seated on the bed. Her legs were crossed under her. She knew exactly what was weird about it. "He's older than both my parents combined, is a different species entirely, and looks hot in skin tight pants."
"Well, there're a few things. One, he's older than me. Two, he's Fae. Three, he wears pants that look poured on," Linda counted off on her fingers before taking the pale pink dress out of a shopping bag. Sarah's eyebrow twitched.
"That's exactly what I was thinking..." Sarah shifted uncomfortably on her bed. "I know, Mom, but I can't explain it. I don't know if it's magic or what, but somehow, I fell in love with him. A month really isn't that much time to get to know somebody, but we spent hours every night doing just that. If that wasn't enough to at least develop a friendship, there was the Labyrinth. We weren't exactly strangers to one another after that. God, Mom! I danced with him! Close, swirling, slow dancing. If that wasn't enough, there was always... tension between us. In the alleyway after Hoggle got me out of the oubliette, there was... He was there, and there was a spark- chemistry. The very air between us seemed hotter, and he was always so close," Sarah explained, gathering more steam as she went on, like the little engine. "He... he makes me ache, body, heart, mind, and soul." Sarah rolled her eyes.
"That's lust and a crush, Sarah," Linda said, trying her best not to believe that her little girl was in love the Goblin King. She'd met him. "Hell. We played 'Chutes and Ladders while waiting for Maggie to give up." It was just weird to think of her daughter with him. "Sarah, I'm just saying that maybe you're only infatuated with him. Love takes a lot longer to bond and form."
"You know that I know that, don't you? I know it sounds crazy. Things with Jareth seldom are normal, but when I'm with him, Mom... He makes my heart speed up and calms me down at the same time. He does things to me with just the sound of his voice that no one's ever done to me..." She trailed off and bit her lip. "It's not just lust, Mom. It's more. It's definitely more. He's the reason I cry myself to sleep every night..." Tears welled up in Sarah's eyes. "He's the reason I can't be with him..." Linda looked confused and was slightly miffed at her daughter's display of attitude.
"Sarah, how does that make any sense?" she questioned. Before Sarah could respond, she shook her head and put a hand over her eyes. "Tell me everything from the beginning."
"Everything? Labyrinth included?"
"Yep. Labyrinth included," Linda replied, dragging the hand over her eyes down her face. She put away the last of the clothes and sat on the other side of Sarah's bed. "Start talking." Sarah took a deep breath.
"We're gonna be up all night..." she thought. "It had been a really hard day at school…"
"Wait," Linda interrupted. "I need some popcorn or chocolate or something. This is going to be way too long a story to listen to without some munchies." She jumped off the bed and ran to the kitchen, leaving Sarah alone to think of the next few moments of the story by herself.
"Jareth... Oh, Jareth. Do you love me? You asked me to love you; does that mean you feel the same way? I wish you were here," she looked out the window on the wall to the left of her bed. "When it's you, though, only you that I want, wishing just isn't enough..."
"Jareth and I had finally become comfortable with each other. I mean, we bantered instead of outright fighting. It wasn't long after that..." Sarah trailed off as she looked out the window again. "I guess I just didn't realize that anything could go wrong with the way things were. I thought they'd stay that way forever." Sarah looked back to her mother, who was thoughtfully munching on some cookies. Linda held one out to her, and Sarah simply stared at it before continuing. "I thought that whatever we had would keep us as we were, like a fire within me. God. It's like, the world around me just felt dead. I didn't care about anything else going on. It all just seemed so boring, like my soul was being slowly sucked out of me." Linda rolled her eyes. "It's true. In my room, I knew we were alive. It was like, I could survive anything, ANYTHING as long as he was there at the end of the day. It was like nothing was too painful to survive." Sarah shook her head. "It sounds ridiculous, but it's true."
"Look, Sarah. I don't mean to be raining all over your parade, but honestly. Don't you think that's a bit dramatic?" Sarah just gave her mother one of those 'oh, really?' stares that teenagers do so well.
"It does, but it's how I feel," she said with a shrug that didn't seem to have any energy to it. "Feelings are seldom logical."
"Kinda like 'Chutes and Ladders..." Linda trailed off, and Sarah gave her an odd look. Linda simply shook it off. "Continue." She shoved the cookie she had held out to Sarah in her mouth.
"I don't even wanna know how you do that so easily," Sarah said with one of those awkward shudders one gets when getting disturbing images of one's parent. "But um- Jareth and I used to just hang out in my room, talking about everything and nothing. As soon as I got in my room he'd be there. Well, sometimes he didn't appear for few minutes, but he was always there. He used to tell me stories of the Fae; y'know, basic history and some of their abilities. I would tell him some stories, too, but I don't think they were as good. I mean, they were just stuff I had written for English class. I think he just said he enjoyed them to make me happy... Oh! One night, when I had fallen asleep, I never told him that I woke up when he tucked me in. He even used a crystal to put me into my pajamas. I think he kissed me on the forehead, too."
Sarah touched her forehead with that statement and felt her heart flutter for a moment. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on continuing her story. "Anyway, a few nights we didn't even talk. We just sat doing work. I'd do homework, and he'd do paperwork, being a Goblin King and all. Anyway, things just progressed to that point where I was comfortable with him and even missed him during the day when I was at school." Sarah's eyes widened. "Oh, God. I was in love with him even then, and I didn't realize it..."
"So then, I told him that there were so many things I wanted to say. He told me to say them, but Irene-" Sarah screamed her frustration into a pillow that had been placed into her lap as a comfort object. It was a very soft comfort object. She lowered the pillow. "Irene came in; Jareth disappeared. Then I screamed at her to leave me alone. She said don't take a tone with her and that she wouldn't tolerate my behavior or whatever. I screamed that she wasn't you, and then, I slammed the door in her face. Then, I got the idea to come here."
"So, what? You went to the bank and got money?" Linda asked, thoroughly amazed with how well Sarah was coping with everything.
"Yeah. Right after. I had Stephen pick me up; they hadn't wandered too far away. I just climbed out my window-"
"Your window?"
"Yeah," Sarah continued. "Anyway, we ran by the bank, and I withdrew all my money, pretty much wiping my account clean. Then, he dropped me off at the airport, and came here in a cab." There was silence between them for a few minutes. Linda laid sprawled out on the end of Sarah's bed with a half empty tin that once held forty eight chocolate chip cookies. Sarah still sat with her legs crossed under her on the left side of the bed, near the window. Linda slowly sat up, digesting all the information Sarah had given her- along with the twenty four cookies she'd eaten by herself.
"Sarah," Linda said slowly. "Holy. Crap." Sarah laughed weakly, feeling more at ease now that it was all out and that Linda had spoken. When she'd told Peter, he'd been so... not understanding.
"Yeah," she put a hand behind her neck. "I know."
"You still didn't answer my question," Linda said, mimicking Sarah's criss-crossed position. Sarah cocked her head to the side.
"I'm sorry. I just gave a long, detailed story. I really don't remember which or what question I haven't answered," she said, feeling a tad bit cocky. Linda rolled her eyes and gave her daughter a light slap on the back of the skull.
"Don't be prissy with me. Anyway, I meant that you didn't answer my whole 'it doesn't make any sense that Jareth's the reason you can't be with him' thing," she replied. Sarah's hand went to the back of her head. It hadn't hurt, but she hadn't expected it.
"Note to self: don't make Mom mad," she thought. She knew Linda would never hurt her. She'd been spanked as a kid when she was acting like a brat. Maybe that was why she'd gotten so bad when Linda left. There was no one to discipline her. Sarah concentrated on the question at hand. How could she tell Linda what she meant to say without sounding like an idiot? "Well," she said slowly, "Jareth is King of the Goblins-"
"No, really? I hadn't noticed." Sarah rolled her eyes at her mother's sarcasm.
"He's worked hard for that. I won't let him tear the entire Goblin Kingdom apart if he ever returned my feelings," she said.
"Oh, he returns them," Linda said, sounding quite smug in her knowledge.
"How do you know?"
"Sarah, men, Goblin King or not, do NOT spend time with women simply talking for hours on end every night for the sake of friendship or understanding. They also don't hold you close to them like... what was it you said? Oh, yes- 'like his arms would protect me from all the bad things that cause tears.'" Linda said, mocking her daughter's drama queen attitude. Sarah laughed weakly. "I have male friends, bodyguards, trainers- none of them hold you and put their hands beneath your chin, tempting you, Sarah, without wanting more than friendship," Linda said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Even gays aren't that touchy- feely, and they don't even have to worry about misinterpreted signals."
"Oh," Sarah responded, not being able to come up with anything else. She wasn't sure if she really believed Linda. She didn't even dare to hope that Jareth returned feelings for her, even if she was quite aware in the back of her mind that she did hope. "Even if he does, we can't be together."
"Why not?"
"Because!" Sarah threw her hands up. "Neither goblin, nor Fae subject, nor any other subject would ever cooperate with a human queen! There would be civil war, chaos, and who knows? Maybe it would be the chance an unhappy noble is looking for to hire an assassin?" She shook her head. "I won't have the destruction of the Goblin Kingdom on my hands. That's not the life I want." She closed her eyes. "I won't have his blood on my hands, and I certainly won't have the destruction of everything he holds dear being shattered." She opened her eyes but kept them downcast. "Not again anyway."
"Again?" Linda quirked an eyebrow.
"The Escher Room?"
"Oh, right," Linda said, massaging her temples. "This too much to comprehend in one night..." She got off the bed and stood up, checking her watch. "It's three in the morning. I'm going to bed. You do the same. No one will wake you up." Sarah watched the door close behind her mother while wondering how Linda could compartmentalize so easily. Then, the tears came as they usually do, and Sarah asked herself over and over again the same question.
"When will it stop?"
"Yes, Robert. She's fine. Everything's fine, no thanks to you." She paused as Robert spoke. "You know exactly what I mean by that. You did nothing to help make her life easier or Irene's transition into her life easier." Linda listened to her ex-husband and wanted to strangle something. "No, Robert. The court will not listen to you, and you know that. They favor kids with the mother anyway. Now that Sarah wants to be with me, there's nothing you can do but wait for her to go back."
She sighed in annoyance. "Yes. I'm sure she'll want to come back eventually, 'cause you've made your new family just sooo welcoming for her." She rolled her eyes at him, even though he couldn't see. "Yes, that was sarcasm. Good night, Robert. It's four in the morning, and I'm tired. I just thought I'd let you know she's safe. It was a pleasure talking to you." She hung up the phone with an angry punch of a button. Robert was so infuriating; it was just all the worst because every time they spoke, she remembered the good days when they'd been together. Linda slipped into bed, thinking about how happy their family had been. Sarah had been so heartbroken when she told her they were divorcing. Robert had been too much of a coward and wouldn't go tell her. Linda's thoughts trailed on, dreading all the extra miles on the treadmill that she'd have to do tomorrow because of her chocolate exploitations and wondering just when she should expose Sarah to the tabloids and the rest of Hollywood.
"Soon." She turned out the lamp next to her. "Tomorrow."
Jareth the Goblin King was worried. He'd been scrying and knew that Sarah had left the house three days ago and hadn't returned. Every time he'd tried to focus in on her he couldn't see anything. Jareth plucked a crystal from the air and looked into it, but all he saw was the same, old fog. Didn't she know that he loved her? That he was worried about her safety? "Of course not. I never said anything. The girl's too daft to know anything unless it's direct." Jareth paced the length of his study again. He'd been doing the action ever since the letter from the High King came. That had been directly after returning from Sarah's. "That's not true. I always underestimate her." That was always his biggest error with Sarah.
"Damn it all. Next time, I'm locking that door with magic and freezing time." Jareth looked at the High King's letter, which laid on the desk. "If there's a next time..." He crossed over to the desk. Jareth read it for what seemed like the thousandth time; in all actuality, it was only the one hundred twenty fourth.
"To: Jareth, King of the Goblins, Lord of the Labyrinth, and Protector of the Underground.
Your appearance at the Seelie Court is required to explain activities that are taking place within your realm. You will be addressing the High King for these activities and for your actions concerning them. You will appear before the Court in six month's time. You have one week to respond with a petition of extension.
On request from
Oberon, King of the Fae, Ruler of the Underground, Head of the Seelie Court."
Jareth finished reading the letter with a snarl. He was talking about one of two things: Sarah or his release of power. Jareth punched the wall beside the door and was satisfied with the crack in the stone. He hadn't even used magic in that strike. Jareth threw the letter on the other side of his desk.
"If anything has happened to her..." Jareth wouldn't allow himself to finish that thought. Nothing would happen to Sarah. He would go insane if something had. Jareth looked up sharply as a knock sounded on his door. "What is it?" he snapped.
A small goblin by the name of Gark opened up the huge door and poked his head into the room. He wasn't much bigger than a teapot. "Your Majesty. There's a- a- a-"
"Out with it," he said, appearing before the little goblin. Gark was startled so much that he fell into the room. He was rather new in the palace.
"A Fae by the entrance." Jareth groaned mentally.
"From the High King, no doubt." He looked down at the goblin and pushed him out into the hall with his foot. "Send him to my Throne Room." He turned around and was about to shut the door when he noticed the goblin was still staring at him. "Well?" Whatever had been going through the little spaced out creature's mind stopped as he snapped to attention and scrambled away. "Idiot."
After Jareth meticulously made sure his attire of skin- tight black pants, a frilly poet's shirt, and a gold leather vest was up to his standards, he transported himself to the throne room. A Fae with a dark complexion stood looking out a window of the Throne room. Several goblins were scattered throughout the room. The Goblin King, however, was mildly surprised to see him and wanted nothing more than to show it and demand why he was here, but Jareth contented himself with sprawling elegantly across his throne and staring down his nose at the Fae, who had yet to notice him as his back was towards the Goblin King.
"So," he drawled, startling the visitor, "why have you requested audience with me?"
"I have requested an audience with you," he said with a British accent that would have surprised other people, "because I know where your mortal is." John turned around to face the Goblin King.
"Sarah?" Jareth moved his feet onto the ground and leaned forward in his throne. "Where? How?"
"One question at a time, Your Majesty. I think we should take this to a more," he trailed off as he looked around the room anxiously, "private place?" Jareth looked around, too, mentally berating himself for not thinking of that first.
"Of course. Let us retire to my study." With a wave of his hand, they were gone.
"What is this all about, John?"
"Sarah is with her mother, who I've been serving under Aboveground."
"Ah, yes. The High King had a fit about allowing a Fae to leave and live among and serve under humans," Jareth said, pouring John and himself a drink. "How did you know to tell me, though? Why is she there? She is all right, isn't she?"
John stood in the center of the large study, noting the richness of the mahogany furniture around him and the expensive looking rug beneath his feet. He thought over the question before answering.
"Yes," he said hesitantly, "and no."
"No?" he repeated sharply. "What's wrong? Is she hurt?"
"That depends," John said hesitantly. "She cries herself to sleep every night, and from what her conversations with her mother have revealed, she has been for quite some time. Apparently, she has... feelings for you."
"Preposterous," Jareth scoffed, feeling a bit of hope rise in him. "Sarah doesn't allow herself to have feelings for people." Jareth took a sip of his drink. He was thinking of not only himself in that moment, but of Stephen, a perfectly decent human, according to the goblins. Sarah would surely choose a mortal over himself again, but then, hadn't she chosen to spend all those nights with him- the Goblin King- not that boy? Jareth handed John his glass and took his own behind his desk as he sat in the silver upholstered chair.
"She does. She stayed up until three in the morning telling her mother about everything-"
"Is it a custom Aboveground to eavesdrop?" he snapped, not liking the idea of Sarah's privacy being violated.
"Yes," he replied as he sat in a blue leather upholstered chair on the other side of Jareth's desk. Jareth arched an eyebrow at this. "I usually don't, but I know who Sarah is. That's why I secured the position serving as her mother's butler."
"Why exactly, though," Jareth demanded. He didn't understand John's motives. They'd known each other for nearly a century, and he still had no idea how this Fae worked.
"One hundred seers and several sages have told me that I will reach happiness by assisting Fate Aboveground and helping the Goblin King in some endeavor," he said. "I never placed much faith in seers or sages, but after the hundredth one told me the same thing the others did, I figured it must be true. That was why I went Aboveground."
"You're an odd character," Jareth said as he downed his alcohol. It burned all the way down his throat, and for that, he was thankful. "I have one other question- why is Sarah at her mother's and why can I not see her?"
"That's two," John grinned. "Because Peter was going to tell Irene that Sarah had overworked herself to the point of hallucination, which meant Irene would throw her in a psych ward. You can't see her because I placed anti- scrying spells over the household and its members during the length of their stay to protect them from any nasty spells that the High King's court might decide to throw their way."
"You're not one to tarry, are you?" Jareth asked, impressed and amused by the Fae's foresight.
"No. And you can contact Sarah through the mirrors. I suggest you do so soon. She misses you."
Before Jareth could say or do anything more, John had stood and bowed, asking his leave. "I fear I may be missed. Sarah and her mother are out, but I'm needed back at the house." Jareth wanted to ask more, but he thought better of it and adopted a mask of cold indifference, waving a hand dismissively. John promptly disappeared, leaving Jareth with more than enough on his plate. He looked at the still full glass that John had left. "That's right. He used to be an alcoholic..." Jareth took the glass and downed it. "Why does Sarah do this to me?" He put his face onto his desk, in his arms, to contemplate how Sarah managed to get him worked up without even being within scrying proximity.
"Do what, Your Majesty?" Jareth looked up to see Didymus, in poorer health since the glamour he had cast had worn off.
"How did you get in here?"
"I let my humble personage in," he replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Jareth made a mental note to yell at the goblins and ask them if they were letting every Tom, Dick, and Harry into the castle.
"What do you want?"
"The Labyrinth hath had some rather interesting changes, Your Majesty, but I hath found a few spies who had wandered their way into the Bog..."
"Spies?" Jareth was alarmed. How had they made it into the Labyrinth?
"Yes," he replied. "They seemeth to be from the High King. Thou art not at odds with him, art thou?" Jareth glared at him.
"I will deal with them later. For now, leave them in the Bog," he laughed. "That should be punishment enough for the time being." With a wave of his hand, Didymus was back at home with Ludo and Ambrosius. Jareth allowed himself a private moment of weakness.
"It's not about one or the other. It's both." His breathing was shallow as he kept his hands over his face. "Damn it all. It's both."
"Sarah. I talked to Robert. He knows you're safe. They're not going to come after you or anything." Sarah looked panicked. She hadn't thought about that. "Oh! And I told you to get dressed up because we're on our way to a movie premiere. Please don't kill me for not telling you sooner."
Sarah's mouth dropped from across the limo. She had thought they were going somewhere special, like the Viper Room or a fancy restaurant, not a movie premiere where there would be paparazzi aplenty. "Umm..." She stared down at her lap and smoothed out the soft material of her new, pale pink Prada dress.
"Say something!" Linda said, smiling nervously. The look was just too much, Sarah started laughing.
"Why would I be mad? This is the sort of thing I always dreamed of," she said. Linda looked out the window as they pulled out of her neighborhood- Beverly Hills.
"I don't know. Maybe because none of the press know about you?" she replied. Sarah's brows knit together. Her first instinct was to be hurt, but she wasn't. Hollywood was about image, and Sarah understood that.
"I'm not mad," she said slowly. "I know that if everyone thought you had a daughter you never saw, they'd think there was something wrong with you. Now, it'll just give you more publicity. If anything, it was smart to wait until I came around."
"No, Sarah. That was not why I waited. Do not think that I would just use you for publicity. I never would," Linda said sternly. "I waited because I thought my life wasn't good or stable enough for you." Sarah nodded.
"There's that, too," she smiled. Linda sighed in relief. "God you scared me. Geez. I wonder how badly you hurt other people you love." Sarah laughed.
"Enough to make them keel over in pain." She was thinking of the time she kneed Jareth in the crotch. That had been funny. Of course, she'd been worried afterwards that she had permanently damaged him or something. It wouldn't do for that to be put to waste.
"What's wrong?" Linda asked, instantly sounding concerned.
"Huh? What?" Sarah asked, not understanding.
"You're crying." Sarah touched her cheek and was surprised when her fingers came away wet.
"Oh," she said quietly. "I was just thinking about... him."
"Oh," Linda replied. "She really does love him... She actually loves the Goblin King. Dear God! My daughter is in love with a Fae older than I can count back our lineage."
"Ms. Williams, who is your... friend?"
"Who is your guest?"
Linda held up her hand to the shouting reporters. "Ladies and gentlemen of the press, this is my daughter, Sarah Williams." A new barrage of questions came for Sarah and Linda. Sarah smiled and stood with poise under the flashing bulbs while secretly wishing to just go in the theatre already.
"Who's the father?"
"Were your parents married?"
"Where's your father now?"
"Are you in the entertainment industry as well?" asked a reporter from People Magazine.
"Well, I'm going to be starting filming the lead for this gymnastics movie coming up-" Linda heard her daughter speaking and jumped in.
"No more questions, thank you," she smiled, leading Sarah down what Linda mentally termed 'the gauntlet.' As soon as they were safe inside the theatre, Linda let her guard partially down. "God, Sarah. Don't talk to them out there."
"What? Why? Doesn't everyone?"
"No. That's where things get misinterpreted. You speak to the media in press conferences and interviews- that's it. Anything else is too open to interpretation, and you do not want that," Linda chided. "Anyway, let's just get this painful experience over with. Then, we can go home. I'll make brownies; you can choose a movie. It'll be a girly chocolate night."
"You're not like other moms, are you?" Sarah sighed.
"Nope." Linda grinned. "Now, come on. All we have to do is smile, watch, and then applaud."
"What about the after party?" Sarah asked. Linda gave her one of those 'do not test me' looks that moms do so well.
"No. You're too young." Linda began walking into the theatre. "And there's too much alcohol."
Sarah followed behind her mother, feeling slightly miffed at her mother's reproach about her age as she ascended the stairs. "I'm not sure if this is the life I want either..." She looked around the lobby behind her. "What do I want?" She shook her head as a thought crept into it. "The better question is: what can I want?"
TA DAAA! I'm sorry this took so long! sweatdrop Yeah... Ah, well! I hope it was worth it. I'm sorry that it's so short. I'll try and get the next one longer. This chapter was sort of half filler, half holy-crap-she-just-opened-up-that-can-of-worms? Soo...umm... yeah. Hope you enjoyed it. I'm working on Chapter Ten. It should be finished by this Friday. (SHOULD! Not actually finished.) I've got a ton of projects/school work/ testing this week. Even if it did get finished, it still would have to go through the beta-editing process.
But ummm... this chapter was 5,032 words. I'm sorry about the shortness... Thank you so much for all the reviews and hits! I adore you people!
