Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended. (x)
Jareth was cooing at a toddler,a broad smile on his face. A brief play of shock shadowed his eyes when he looked up to see Sarah standing there, dressed like one of his own people.
"Sarah-mine, you look-" he started quietly.
"Like an idiot?" Sarah asked, her eyes cast to the floor, afraid at what he would say.
"Like a queen," Jareth said firmly, his tone commanding that she look up. When she did, she saw genuine love and admiration on his face and it soothed her frayed nerves. "There are about nine hours left on this wish-away, and then I should be free."
"Can we talk? I'm not too worried if the goblins hear."
"Any time you'd like, my love."
"Promise me you won't lose your temper again?" Sarah implored quietly.
Jareth looked at her, a burning in his eyes, taking a deep breath. "What has happened Sarah?"
"Your mother came to visit me at my cottage," Sarah blurted the words as quickly as she could, trying not to incite his ire.
"She WHAT?" Jareth's anger was barely contained as he roared out the question.
"It's been handled, Jareth, I reached out to Aislinn since I knew you were busy. She's put your mother in a holding cell that she says she can't get out of. Also, we're apparently the guests of honor at a ball she's throwing in three days?"
Looking at the toddler in his lap, Jareth sighed, a small smile on his face despite the awful news his bride-to-be had given him. "She certainly knows how to turn my world on its head, doesn't she little one?" he cooed to the child.
The toddler giggled and wrapped her arms around Jareth in an all-consuming hug. "Bunbun!" the child squealed repeatedly, causing Jareth to summon a floppy stuffed rabbit, reminiscent of the Velveteen Rabbit.
"I wanted to make sure that you knew about the scene she caused, and that you knew I was safe. I wanted you to hear it from me and not someone else."
"Love," he said softly. "I appreciate that beyond words. I'll come to you as soon as I'm done here and we can talk further, if you'd like that."
"I'd… I'd like to stay here for a while, if you don't mind. If I'm going to- I need to understand this, to know what exactly I've accepted. I know things from the runner's perspective, but I want to know how you handle this," Sarah said, her voice sounding increasingly strained at the idea of sitting and watching his side of things.
A look of mild surprise at her words crossed Jareth's face. "You would be willing to help with wish-aways?"
"Jareth, you said you would move the stars for me. The least I can do is maybe help you, try to learn what it is that being your other half entails. I want to do this in its entirety. So, now, who is this precious little angel?" Sarah asked, a warm smile on her face as she waved at the child.
"This is Elsie. Her parents divorced, her mother is hospitalized with some kind of injury, and her useless father wished her away the instant she was in his custody. Thankfully, she seems to be unharmed prior to this."
"How do you-"
"Her terrified father gushed it. Normally the Labyrinth will feed me a bit of information about the wish-away. For example, with yours, I knew it was just teenage frustration and situation, though, is anything but normal, starting with it not waking me up first. If the child isn't in trouble, there's time to be methodical about it," Jareth bounced Elsie on his knee.
A broad smile crossed his face as the little girl cooed. Sarah smiled, just watching him interact with the girl. Sitting on the edge of the unused fire pit, she looked around, taking in the surroundings.
"Pretty lady sit with gobbies?" a curious little goblin asked her.
"Well, I suppose so. Why shouldn't I? I'm only here for a bit and I certainly don't expect you lot to go fetch me a chair, not while there's more important business to deal with," she smiled down at the goblin, tussling his hair.
The two of them chatted, Jareth cooing over Elsie for a long while. He had been watching some of his orbs when he exploded to his feet in an instant, holding Elsie tightly while what little color his face normally held faded.
"Sarah, my love, can you hold Elsie? I need to attend to something-"
"Jareth?"
"It's Elsie's mother. I need to go Aboveground and check something. Can you monitor the father from here? I'll leave the orbs up. He's got another four hours. I should be back before then, but if you reach the end of the clock and he fails before I return, have Sean guide you." Jareth moved toward Sarah and reached a hand out to caress her face. "You are more than capable," he said, handing Sarah the girl and abruptly transporting himself back Aboveground with no further explanation.
"Well kid," Sarah sighed, bouncing the little girl on her hip a bit while swaying, "looks like it's just you and me."
"We here lady!" the goblins chirped in.
Smiling, Sarah sank into Jareth's throne, the little girl safely in her arms. "Yes. Yes, you are."
-
Appearing Aboveground, Jareth took to his barn owl form and flew to the hospital Elsie's mother was a patient in. Peering into the window he knew to be her room, he ruffled his feathers and sadly shook, watching the scene in front of him. He could see the heart monitor flatlining and the medical staff frantically working to keep the woman in their care alive. After a long while, they stopped their efforts, sadly pulling the blanket over her now motionless body. His worst fears had come true, and now his Sarah may have to deal with the aftermath.
Taking flight again, he headed to the house the Labyrinth had given the information on for Elsie's mother. Police tape covered the door and windows, but he could see inside, the bullet holes punching the interior walls. The rage and fire inside Jareth flared as he landed and shifted back to his normal form. He transported himself in to the house, and started walking through to figure out exactly what had happened. Stepping lightly and carefully, he searched the house for what he feared might be there.
Letting his magic expand out, he felt for anything that might have been out of sorts or bewitched. He could feel a faint, residual pull of magic, but not anything he could immediately pinpoint as being significant. Kneeling where he could feel it's pull the strongest, he pulled a small vial- one the human police had missed- from under the couch, picking it up before heading back to the Underground. Someone had some explaining to do, and it was going to certainly cause fireworks.
Sarah sat nervously watching the time count down on the 13 hour clock, sighing and turning to watch the orbs showing Elsie's father running in circles. Elsie had fallen asleep on Sarah's shoulder, happily clutching the 'bun-bun' that Jareth summoned for her before his sudden departure. As she watched the clock growing closer and closer to the man's final moments, Sarah steeled herself to face the father of the precious child she guarded. Her heart began racing as she summoned a playpen to lay the girl in before trying her hand at creating armour.
She stood, holding her hands at her sides, visualising the way Jareth's formal armour looked while she tried to create her own. Sean willed himself through the wall looking for Jareth and watched in silence as Sarah finished creating armour for herself and pulled her hair back into a severe bun, all the while staring coldly out the window, oblivious to his presence.
He cleared his throat softly. "My Lady, where did his Majesty go?"
"Out. And left me to do his job," she tugged her gloves tighter down on her hands. "Can you stay with Elsie while I deal with the last bits? Jareth said you'd be able to guide me, but I know what to say- I can feel a whisper of the Labyrinth's power nudging me in the right direction."
"You're certain about this, My Lady? I can go handle him if you should prefer it."
"No, thank you. It has to be me- I'm sure of it. Jareth's not here, we're at two minutes to the thirteenth hour, and I need to be able to do this job just as competently as he does going forward- well starting next they say there's no time like the present, right?"
As soon as Sarah finished those words, she transported herself and the clock to the bluff above the Labyrinth. As the clock chimed thirteen, the child's father was instantly placed on the top of the bluff as well.
"You have failed to solve our Labyrinth in the thirteen hours you were given. You have failed to reclaim your daughter. Go back to your home, forget the child," Sarah's voice was cold.
"You bitch. Where's that freakish fellow from before? The one that took my little girl?"
"None of your concern, Eric James," her voice came out measured, thankfully not faltering as she wondered how she knew his name. "You have failed yourself and you have failed your daughter. She will be well loved here. Return and forget she ever existed," Sarah turned slightly, looking out over the Labyrinth while still keeping an eye on the man before her.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him charging her, a knife in hand. She stepped back abruptly, pulling a dagger from her side and deflecting his charge before waving her hand and freezing him in place, his eyes shifting frantically from side to side in fear at his sudden inability to move.
"I should dump you in an oubliette and leave you there," she snarled, suddenly aware of why Jareth took that tone with wishers-away. Her magic flared behind her eyes and she whirled on the man, a terrifying sight indeed. "Attacking the sitting Champion of the Labyrinth, the chosen of the Goblin King. You are a stupid, stupid man. Go back to your life and forget the happiness you might have once had-"
"Oh, he won't Precious. He's going to have what he did seared into his mind for all eternity." Jareth's voice was little more than a whisper as he stood just to Sarah's side and a few steps behind her. "She's dead, you absolute shitstain," Jareth snarled brutally. "You may not have done it intentionally, but you will pay," Though Sarah couldn't see the anger on his face, she could imagine it , and the fire behind her eyes as she stared the man down only intensified.
"Truss him up nice for the constabulary and drop him on their door," the ice carried through her voice and she saw the fear reflected in the man's eyes as her words hit him.
Sarah stepped backwards two steps, trusting that she would find Jareth behind her, and stopped as she felt his hand grasp her hip- in less than a second, the man was bound and transported to the police station in his district. In the heartbeat afterwards, Sarah sighed a sigh of relief in light of the situation.
"Precious, we must talk, but I want you to know this- you continue to amaze me with your capabilities and willingness to take on what you need to," he said gently against her neck. He pulled her back tight against his front and wrapped her in his arms as he transported the two of them together back to the castle with no more than a thought.
They appeared in the throne room where Sian sat with Elsie. The girl was still sleeping in the playpen, safe and quiet.
"So, you wanted to talk?" Sarah's voice was low, so as to not disturb the sleeping toddler.
Jareth still held her against him. "Yes, dear. But first, Sian, take the girl to her new parents. Next on the list. Prepare the paperwork and I'll make sure to deal with it later."
"Yes, your Majesty," the adviser bowed, before picking the child up and walking out of the room with her cradled securely against his chest.
Jareth released Sarah and gently spun her around to face him, a beguiled and enthralled look on his face. "You, my love, are amazing. The armour is a wondrous touch, and you handled this unfortunate situation beautifully. I am sorry I missed this. I did not mean to force your hand for this before you were ready, but this was far from a normal wish-away."
"Jareth- I... I kind of suspected. When Titania was there waiting for me, well, I accused her of doing this, I was just hoping I was wrong. She didn't refute it though."
Jareth held the vial where Sarah could see it. "One of my mother's delightful concoctions. A dash of rage, a bit of memory loss, add in some passion. She's never gone this far before, but it reeks of mother's magic. You must have really gotten under her skin for her to do something of this magnitude. We'll need to take this to Aislinn and Richard, unfortunately. I was hoping not to have to do this. We'll have to send over in advance and let them know we're coming early."
Sarah's vision flashed red at the thought that his mother would do something like this to try and separate them. "The couriers were here earlier, while you were still Aboveground. I doubt they'll mind our showing up early. But I'm exhausted. Can we go to bed? Today was strenuous. I'm more exhausted than when I actually ran the labyrinth."
"Ah," Jareth said. "Yes. Alright." Jareth scooped Sarah off her feet and carried her to their bedroom cradled against him as one would a bride. As he set her down, he kissed the top of her head gently.
Sarah quickly stripped herself of her armour. One of the benefits of designing it herself meant that she could put all the clasps where they were accessible to her, and as soon as she divested the bulky garments she changed quickly into a pair of pajamas. She was thankful for the abilities the draught had given her, even at the price she'd paid for it. Jareth snickered at her nightclothes, an oversized t-shirt with the Grinch emblazoned on the front and a pair of men's silk boxers.
"Oh hush you. You sleep in your tights for heaven's sake. Which, I assure you, is not and cannot be at all as comfortable as these shorts," Sarah kissed him lightly before she crossed the room to the bed and burrowed deep into the covers. "Are you coming, my love, or am I sleeping in this beautiful, luxurious, cozy bed all alone?"
Jareth smirked again and shed his shirt and boots before climbing in next to her. "I wouldn't give up spending every night laying here with you for anything," he wrapped his arms around her, twining the fingers of his right hand in hers.
Sleep overtook them both quickly as they lay wrapped around each other, breathing softly, a happy dreamless sleep that both desperately needed. A nightingale lighted on their windowsill and chirped twice before taking off towards Aislinn and Richard's castle. All the while Sarah and Jareth lay peacefully, their hands still tangled in one another's.