A/N: Can it be? We're alive! And we haven't forgotten you! I'm really sorry for how long it's taken to get this up. It was entirely my fault. I really have no excuse for it, so I offer my humblest apologies, an extra long chapter, and chapter sixteen of Self Insertion Ruled the TARDIS is up as well! And there's something quite exciting in the A/N of that as well. Hope this makes up for the excruciatingly long time between updates! - Sara

Chapter Ten

I couldn't think why the Doctor had joined Jareth in protesting. Tegan's stepping on the crystal made sense. She was connected to the crystal. Naturally she'd destroy the crystal.

She stood over the powder of the Briealiate for a moment, gasping, until invisible pain knocked her to her knees.

"Tegan?" I ran around Jareth to her. When I tried to pull her to her feet, she started screaming in short but lengthening bursts, leaning on one hand and holding her head.

The Doctor pushed both hands into his hair, wide-eyed. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't expect this to happen—"

"What's happening?"

Jareth answered, his voice dead and flat and disbelieving. "It's killing her. She's connected to the crystal, and it's crushing her too."

"Doctor," Didymus said, "can you not heal her?"

"He's not that kind of doctor, you idiot," Hoggle hissed in an attempt to be sympathetic to us.

I fell backward, away from her, and turned straight to the Doctor. Ludo was trying to catch me and hold me, but I kept bucking his paws. "What can we do? Is there any way to repair the crystal before she—?"

"Not in time," the Doctor snarled, not at me, not really. "The psychic link is like an unraveling string. We can't repair it without the right tools, and we can't unravel one end without damaging the other—oh! That could—that's—!"He clawed through his hair again. "Oh, my brain, stupid Doctor, don't you see it?" He pounded his bony forehead. "String! What happens when you stretch string?"

I swallowed. "It snaps."

"And the other end's free as can be! Oh! If we could stretch the link out, get Tegan far enough from here, this link could snap!"

I jumped up. "Are you sure?"

He looked at me as if for the first time. "Not by a long shot, but the TARDIS could try it!"

I felt like he was wringing out my heart. "The TARDIS is at the Labyrinth gate, Doctor! We can't—"

"No, but he can!" The Doctor pointed wildly at Jareth and stopped, his skinny body heaving with gulps of air. "Jareth—I'm sorry. But you can stop this. One snap of your fingers could bring the TARDIS and save Tegan's life!"

Tegan's screams had petered into whimpers. She was curled in the fetal position, her eyes screwed shut. Blood was beginning to drip out of her ears, and I choked on a shriek.

Jareth licked his lips.

"Jareth," the Doctor said urgently, "I know you don't care what we say, but Tegan only has a minute left. If that!"

Jareth stood over Tegan's shuddering form, looking down at her with an unreadable expression. He stood there a little too long for my taste, and I balled my fists to keep from shouting at him to hurry up. Finally, his eyes filled with resignation and he knelt beside Tegan without touching her. "I—I can't live within you…"

He snapped his fingers, and the room filled with the rush and whoosh of the TARDIS.

I closed my eyes and remembered to breathe. Jesus, thank you, thank you, thank you. I knew Jareth wouldn't want to hear it.

When I opened my eyes again, Jareth was standing, limp Tegan cradled in his arms. "I must know what happens to her," he demanded of the Doctor, who stood in the TARDIS doorway practically ready to kiss it. "You'll bring her back so I can see her, if she lives."

The Doctor gave a clipped nod, and Jareth didn't waste time surrendering her. Only when the Goblin King stepped back did I feel free to run into the TARDIS too. The Doctor had gently laid Tegan on the seat and was contorting himself around the console.

I stopped just inside the doorway and turned around to look at the topsy-turvy room once more. Jareth was out of sight, but I didn't doubt he was still there. Instead, I saw Didymus, Ludo, and Hoggle.

"I don't know what to say—" I began.

"Do what you need to do before it's too late!" Hoggle barked.

I waved. "Goodbye!"

"Graaace…" Ludo said as I closed the TARDIS door.

"Brace yourself," the Doctor said, and gave me no time to do so. The TARDIS started grinding even before the echoes of the landing had faded. I held onto the rail for dear life and screamed my heart out for all my fear and frustration and pain and suspense and weariness.

The TARDIS was still moving. Tegan fell off the seat with the momentum. With the Doctor clinging to the console, no one could catch her. She didn't react as the wind inside the TARDIS whipped her hair around the grating.

The psychic link stretched and stretched through time and space, and suddenly the TARDIS stopped moving with a loud crack, as if a bone had broken. Tegan bolted upright, gasping. She stared unseeing at me by the door, then looked up at the Doctor.

He slid to her side. "No pain?"

She shook her head mutely.

As one, the Doctor and I jumped up. As his feet came off the ground, he punched the air, and when I twirled I got the feeling the TARDIS was twirling with me. "Tegan, you're free! You're free!"

The Doctor grinned. "He let you go. I never would've expected that to work!"

Somehow, with all this celebration, we left Tegan on the floor. It took me thirty seconds to realize her small frame was still heaving.

And the Doctor, with no ceremony whatsoever, went down next to her, wrapped his arms around her violently shaking shoulders, and lifted her off the floor. I only knew that my best friend was crying, and I was more helpless than I'd been after fourteen hours coming and too late to reclaim her. And now, knowing why she had left us, I copied his example, letting her cry.

There was one thing we hadn't talked about: how Jareth really got Tegan. Yes, the Briealiate allowed him to create a link, to appear in the TARDIS, and to—to sing or whatnot… But he didn't really kidnap her. I'd seen his rules in the Labyrinth: he fulfilled what people believed, desired, expected.

Tegan had wanted to leave. She had been lonely, and I—starstruck by the Doctor, drunk on success—had let her be.

Eventually I put my arms around her too. "I'm sorry," I said. I didn't care that the Doctor could hear. He was probably thinking it. "Please forgive me."

,.,.,.,.,.,.,

Every single inch of my body hurt.

I couldn't breathe, I couldn't see. I was aware of somebody nearby screaming, and it took me a long time to realize it was me.

Somehow I ended up on the floor, the concrete was rubbing against my cheek.

The only thing I could hear was blood filling my ears. I was beginning to lose consciousness. I couldn't think in complete sentences anymore.

The Doctor... Where is the Doctor? ... Grace is shouting... about me? ... Jareth... What's Jareth doing? ... Mom... I want my mom... I want my mommy...

A voice cut through my thoughts, seeming to come as much from inside my head as out.

I can't live within you... I'll never forget it. It seemed to rob me of my ability to think. The words echoed in my head for a long time.

And then the pain stopped. My whole body shook with the effort to breathe. I sat and breathed for a moment until I realized two things. One, I was on the TARDIS floor, and two, I was sobbing.

A pair of strong, safe arms wrapped around me, and I sobbed all the harder.

And I couldn't help but notice... the Doctor never shushed me or told me that everything was all right. I think it's because he understands. He understands that being safe doesn't necessarily make you all right. I think that he understands, better than anyone else, that it takes a long time before you're all right again.

After a while, I heard Grace apologize. Unable to speak, I nodded, which hurt quite a lot.

I had just begun to relax when the Doctor suddenly shouted, "Oh!" which startled me and made my head protest painfully. He jumped up and ran for the console. "I almost forgot."

"Forgot what?" I asked, slightly worried.

Grace groaned, which didn't help. "I can't believe we promised him we'd… go back."

"You what?" I shouted, and then promptly groaned and put my head to my hands. I later wondered if this was what a hangover felt like. Although, if it were a real hangover, I'd probably have enjoyed myself a lot more beforehand. This just wasn't fair.

"It's safe, Tegan," the Doctor said, "without the Briealiate. You won't die and he can't get back inside your head. He just wants to know you're alive."

"Then send him a postcard," I quipped darkly.

"Or a puppy," Grace said offhandedly. We paused, then looked at each other and grinned properly for the first time in far too long.

,.,.,.,.,

I stepped out of the TARDIS holding both Grace's and the Doctor's hands. It had taken a lot of convincing to get me to come, but the Doctor finally won. It is very difficult to outtalk him.

We'd landed outside the castle's front gate approximately half an hour after leaving, where a huge, headless, metal monster stood guard.

"What the heck is that?" I shrieked.

Grace looked at it and frowned. "Funny enough, we never asked his name."

"Huh," I said.

As we walked inside and up the stairs, we heard a shrill voice cry, "Don't give up hope!"

"We're not," said a thick, raspy voice that must've been Hoggle.

"We mustn't abandon hope even when all seems bleakest, even when the fair lady is mostly likely cold with death—"

"Didymus, shut up!" Jareth roared.

I stopped, more than slightly unwilling to enter the Escher room again, and Jareth's voice certainly wasn't helping...

The Doctor squeezed my hand reassuringly. I took a slow, deep breath, and we stepped through the door.

The room was a shambles; it seemed that Jareth had taken out all his frustration on anything that couldn't run. It looked as though something very large and very angry had grabbed at the staircases and thrown the pieces at the numerous doorways, which were broken and jagged. Jareth was perched on a broken piece of concrete.

Ludo and Hoggle were sitting on the floor and Didymus was pacing back and forth in front of them, reminiscent of a football coach giving his team a pep talk. I cracked a smile.

Ludo noticed us first, but of course, he only had eyes for... "Grrrrrace!"

Our cover was blown. Everyone looked up, and there was a brief moment of silence. Then, Didymus gasped horrifically.

"Can it be? That specter doth bear the figure of our beloved Tegan and hast dragged the souls of the Fair Grace and Valiant Physician into the depths with it!"

There was a stunned silence. Then Grace burst out laughing. The Doctor followed her example immediately, and I giggled. That seemed to signal to everyone that we were, in fact, all right. Ludo got up and began lumbering toward us, but Jareth stood up sharply and waved a hand at Ludo, who promptly fell on his back.

"Big bully," muttered Grace, letting go of me to help Ludo.

I sighed. "Must you always knock him over?"

"I must," said Jareth, rushing towards me. I took a step backward and the Doctor stepped forward protectively. Jareth glared at him as though he wanted nothing more than to impale the Doctor on one of the broken bits of stairs, but stepped back and looked me over from a couple of feet away. "How do you feel?"

"Like there's a rubber band wrapped around my head, but it's gradually getting looser," I said, not meeting his eyes. I looked instead at his unusual eyebrows.

Something yipped excitedly near Grace and Ludo, and Jareth looked over sharply.

"Ah yes, I'd forgotten," I said. "I've brought you a gift."

On cue, Grace held up a squirming bundle of fine fur and wrinkles tied with frilly silver ribbon. "This," I told Jareth, "is a basset hound. For you."

His long fingers closed over the puppy as if he expected it to react badly to glitter. "And what am I supposed to do with this?"

"Well, you feed her, keep her clean, give her a name. Who knows, she might even end up liking you," I said, with a small smile.

Jareth lifted her up and looked into her face sternly for a moment. "I think I'll call you Sarah."

I smiled, Grace snickered, and Hoggle's jaw dropped to the floor. First, he'd had to contend with Jareth essentially pleading with me, now he's cuddling a puppy. Poor Hoggle's worldview is never going to get a break.

The Doctor reached forward and patted Grace's shoulder. "I think we'd better head off."

Grace nodded, then reached up and cupped Ludo's leathery face in her hands. "You be a brave beastie and save more ladies, 'kay, friend?"

Ludo nodded dismally. He seemed to be blinking away tears, and his words came out indistinct."'Kay, frren. W-wull miss you, Grrace."

"Aw," I said quietly, with a sappy smile on my face.

Grace's lower lip trembled, and for a moment I thought she might pledge undying devotion to him. Finally she just sighed, ruffled his fur, and crouched next to Didymus. "Then I'm trusting you to take care of your big brother, Sir D."

"If he does not beat me to the challenge," Didymus chuckled. He bowed deeply to us both. "Ladies, you are most welcome anytime."

Jareth took a break from his staredown with the puppy to look meaningfully at me. This time I did meet his eyes and, just to test the waters, thought something very rude indeed. He raised his eyebrows in surprise and sighed. I turned to the Doctor in horror. "I don't think it worked, he can still read my mind!"

"No he can't, Tegan, it's just you. Sheesh, even I heard that one," said the Doctor, giving me a disillusioned look. I blushed and turned back to Grace.

She finally looked over at Hoggle, who shuffled his feet. "Aw, c'mere," she cried, yanking him into a one-armed hug. He flailed until she let go.

"That's yer goodbye to me?" He was practically steaming. "A hug? You coulda brung plastic! But no, you brings a—" He spat rather than say the dreaded word a second time.

"Hull miss you too," Ludo rumbled, smiling now.

"Won't," Hoggle rejoined, averting his eyes.

"He really likes her," quipped Jareth quietly.

"Yeah," said the Doctor and I in tandem.

"Of course not," Grace said in response to Hoggle. She tried to hide a grin behind a tone of approval. "Why would he miss oubliettes and threatening kings and cleaners and thieves and holes and Bogs and monsters and falling bridges and bananas and robots—" She ran out of the fingers she'd been counting on. "And goblin armies and crystal-chasing? For just two friends?"

Wow, I thought. Something tells me her story's going to be a lot better than mine.

"Four," Hoggle corrected, then stopped. He seemed suspicious that she'd tricked him into something, but couldn't put his finger on it.

"But I'm afraid things will never go back 'normal,' if you can call it that," the Doctor told Hoggle. He, of course, had offered no goodbyes, so he was reasonably surprised when Ludo, Hoggle, and Didymus glomped him at once. (Didymus glomped, Hoggle patted his back gingerly, and Ludo lifted him off his feet.) I wondered if Grace had coached them.

I smiled properly. Then my smile faded as I looked at them. Grace and the Doctor had gained a whole group of friends out of this experience. What was I leaving with? A lifetime's worth of nightmares. A phobia of peaches. The sneaking suspicion that every owl I see is looking at me and planning to abduct me in my sleep.

On that note, I suddenly felt a pair of eyes on me, and turned to see Jareth staring at me as if he'd never seen me before. He studied my face for a moment and said, "You should consider smiling more. Its suits you."

"I do smile, I just don't smile around you."

He placed his new puppy on the ground and approached me slowly. "But if you chose to stay, perhaps you would smile more than you think."

"What?" I said incredulously.

"I did save your life."

That didn't deserve a response, considering he'd created the link that almost killed me. I decided to mentally swear at him again instead.

"Have it your way, then." He lifted his chin. "Leave me alone forever."

"Ahem," Hoggle interrupted. "If you're alone, your majesty, it's only because you've locked yourself in this castle."

Jareth looked as if he'd bog Hoggle so he could angst and guilt trip in peace, but Ludo quickly rumbled, "Listen, King."

"We stays in the Labyrinth 'cause we likes it," Hoggle said. "Your bullyin' wasn't so bad until they got 'ere. We're not much better than you, when it comes to it."

"I disagree," Didymus said, drawing himself to his full height of nobility. "I think we could teach you to be as good as the best beast of us."

"Who wants to live forever anyway?" I said, looking over at the Doctor.

"You've seen how it's treated me," the Doctor added to Jareth, even though he looked back at the TARDIS. "If not for friends, I wouldn't last either."

Jareth looked at him, then glanced at Grace, and glanced longer at me. Finally, he looked back up at the Doctor.

"Your friends are... well-chosen, Doctor."

The Doctor half-smiled. "I rather think they've chosen me."

Grace raced around to stand behind me. "More than you will ever know," she said in my ear, deepening her voice dramatically.

The Doctor gave us the hint of a smile that was gone in a flash. Grace tugged on my arm. "I think I'm going crazy, because I think he knows, and that's impossible."

I wrenched my arm away and nervously massaged the bruises that were beginning to form. "Of course it's impossible. You just imagined that look."

Grace's voice got squeakier with her growing panic. "What look? I never said anything about a look!"

I shot her a frightened look. "Hush, you," I added, voice quivering.

We turned around to face the Doctor and Jareth, who were both staring at us.

"Hi," we said brightly.

The Doctor blinked at us. "Ready to go?" he asked.

"Oh, like you wouldn't believe," I sighed.

,.,.,.,.,.,.

The Doctor bounded ahead of us into the console room.

"It seems like a long time since we've had any fun, doesn't it?" I said conversationally to Grace.

"Mmhmm," said Grace, rubbing her eyes, "sure. What?"

Because that wasn't suspicious. "You didn't enjoy the Labyrinth, did you?"

She pulled a face. "Overall or in segments?" she finally said.

"Trust me, you don't want to say you enjoyed it."

"I didn't enjoy it," she said, both obediently and guiltily.

"I know just how to cheer us up," I went on.

"What do you have in mind? Does it involve food? Other than bananas, of course," she added hastily.

Bananas? I thought. What the heck's this about a banana? "Stop sidetracking," I scolded. "It's a game. I bet you ten quid you can't make the Doctor angry."

Grace looked incredulous. "What do you mean, make him angry?"

I sighed, wondering briefly how I could've managed to surround myself with such thick people. "I mean like the snooty, rebellious, disrespectful teenager that haunts his nightmares and keeps him from going domestic."

"Are you for real?" she asked, and I could see the horror coming over her face as she realized."Ohhh no."

"Ohhh yes," I said as the TARDIS VWORPed into the 1940s. It was just like the start of an episode.

"B-but you don't have ten quid." She scrambled backwards, away from me and right into the door to the console room. "You don't even have American money!"

"Grace. How many times have I played Pippin to your Merry?"

A whine her throat couldn't decide whether to mature into a growl or a groan for half a minute. Finally, she resigned herself, fully groaned, and gave me a one-fingered salute, glaring most disrespectfully. "We who are about to die salute you."

I returned her salute. "Just like that, Grace. Just like that."

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.

I marched into the console room with Tegan eagerly on my heels and trying to mentally wash away the guilt. Now... what to do?

I reached up onto the console, lifted myself, and flopped down on it under the Doctor's nose. As he stared, I folded my arms, leaned back, and just stared in return.

He glanced at Tegan, who facepalmed, looking so very ashamed of me.

"Get off the console, Garace," the Doctor said evenly, which signaled my terror to grow.

"'Queens never make bargains,'" I sniffed. "Lewis Carroll."

"That wasn't a bargain," he said in the low, dangerous tone of, "I think the ghosts are horrific."

I leaned forward, over-enunciating. "Then offer me a bargain."

His eyes didn't flicker. "If you get off the console, I'll buy you a lollipop."

My mouth watered, but Tegan raised an eyebrow. I couldn't give in that easily.

I hadn't eaten in fourteen hours. Oh, yes, I could.

"I will dismount the console," I said pompously, blinking, "because it is uncomfortable, not because you are bribing me."

"No lollipop."

I wanted to whimper, but I shifted back into position. "Then make me get off the console."

He pointed at the door and bellowed, "OUT!"

I shrieked and leaped down, hugging a pillar. "I'm off, I'm off!"

,.,.,.,.,

There's something about when the Doctor gets angry...it doesn't really matter who he's angry with, it still makes you nervous. I tiptoed past Grace, who was whimpering, "Please, God, please, God, please, God." and sheepishly ventured, "I wasn't sitting on the console."

The Doctor turned and looked at me long and hard. "All right," he sighed.

The whimpering coming from Grace suddenly stopped. Presumably, she'd heard the Doctor agree to buy me a lollipop. Her pleas for God to preserve her life abruptly morphed into a mutter, which the Doctor and I heard as we stopped by her pillar on the way out.

"And also please smite Tegan with Thy wrath…"

"By the way," the Doctor said, tapping her shoulder, "what's outside is our meeting with Jack Lewis."

I heard an unnatural cracking noise as Grace's locked limbs detached themselves from the pillar. As we left, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Grace raise a fist at me. In response, I reached forward to grab the Doctor's arm. Grace's fist dropped out of the air like a rock. Outwardly I smirked, but I inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. She would not have hesitated to hit me.

No sooner did we step out of the TARDIS than Martha came bouncing out of a pub. The street was something out of a black-and-white photo, but not at all because it was three-dimensional and in color.

"Where've you been? Tolkien's in there, too! They want to meet you and…"

Martha trailed off as she noticed the bags under Grace's eyes. She turned to me and glanced at my ears. "Is that blood?"

I reached a hand up and touched my ear. It felt crusty. "How long has that been there?"

Her eyes drifted up to the Doctor, at whom she scowled. "Doctor, what have you been doing to them?"

I looked at him to see how he'd react, and he suddenly looked more tired than I've ever seen him. "Oh, I wish you'd been there."

Martha smiled slightly to herself before looking at my ears again, and heading for the TARDIS door. "I'm getting the medicine kit."

"Suits us; we've got a lollipop to buy." The Doctor smiled at me in what seemed like an affectionate way.

I suddenly saw Grace's face appear around his other side, peering up at him with a hopeful smile.

The Doctor sighed again. "Show of hands, who's been kidnapped recently?"

I proudly thrust my hand into the air. The Doctor looked expectantly at Grace for a moment. Just when I thought she was going to explode, he added, "No, no, keep them up while I count."

He turned to me, then back to Grace. "All right, then. One it is."

"Doctor's pet," Grace hissed at me.

I looked knowingly at her and nodded. "Doctor's pet," I murmured triumphantly.

Grace chuckled in spite of herself.

I'm sure you're all worried about how cruelly the Doctor and I had treated Grace, and to be honest, I wondered if I'd gone too far. I needn't have, of course. The Doctor didn't buy Grace a lollipop, but he did get her a small bag of marbles he'd caught her admiring. For her sake, I wish he'd just gotten her the lollipop.

(You can't eat marbles. Stupid Doctor.)

Two days later, she walked into the console room, looking extraordinarily peeved, announced that she'd lost her marbles, and stalked out. I asked her about it later, and she said the TARDIS had hidden them, and she'd said that to see if it would work. It did. The TARDIS has a rather sadistic sense of humor, you see.

In the meantime, Martha cleaned us up and gave us band-aids, after which we recounted our adventure in turns to her, as well as Jack and Ronald. Myself, in slightly less detail. I later had a private cup of tea with the Doctor, and I confess I recounted everything Jareth had said, for… various reasons. Mostly, I wanted the Doctor to know.

"What I want to know," Martha said with startling ruthlessness, "is why you didn't just slam Jareth into a wall the first time he showed up."

Grace laughed, evidently recovered from my prank after getting a chance to fill her stomach. "I did almost slap him. But we were a little on the cautious side, 'cause, well, we were an hour late. Tegan might have been turning into a goblin!"

I chuckled for a minute, before it sank in. "Wait a minute; that could've really happened?"

She blinked. "Why did you think he's called the Goblin King? Didn't you see the goblins?"

"Well, yeah," I said, a little miffed. "There was that whole thing with creatures popping their heads off and nearly mine, and then Jareth… scaring them off."

"Typical," said the Doctor. "Tegan versus the Fireys. Jareth wins."

"From what you've told me, he lost quite a lot," Martha said—more to me than anyone else.

"I wouldn't worry about that too much," I said, smiling a little. "I imagine he and Sarah are getting along just fine."

Then, that freaking little thought appeared in my head again. And what are you leaving with? Nightmares, phobias, and...

I looked down at my fingers, which were silently tapping out a four beat rhythm.

The awful feeling that you've made the wrong choice.

(line)

A/N: All the songs featured were written by David Bowie and can be found on YouTube. Most of them were in Labyrinth.

Also, I feel like mentioning this for no reason at all... you might notice that when both Zoe and I describe Jareth, we say he has blue eyes. Fans of Labyrinth will say that he, in fact, has mismatched eyes, but this is not true. David Bowie, who portrays Jareth in the film, got into a fistfight when he was a teenager and his left eye was damaged and permanently dilated, which gives him the appearance of having one brown eye and one blue eye. I felt that this was a physical attribute unique to Bowie, so we didn't include it.

You may now return to chapter sixteen of "Saxon Ruled Britain Self Inserts Ruled the TARDIS" (properly, "While Saxon Ruled Britain, Self Insertion Ruled the TARDIS").